The end-to-end logistics of taking Sri Lanka’s first electric supercar all the way to Geneva Motor Show

by Priya Jadhav 

Drawing on a wide range of its services, A.P. Moller - Maersk to manage the entire journey of Vega EVX including intermodal & ocean transport, custom house brokerage, loading-unloading, regulatory restrictions, third-party insurance.

January 2020: A.P. Moller - Maersk, the integrated container logistics company, has embarked on a journey that covers the end-to-end logistics of first-ever Sri Lankan made electric supercar Vega EVX that will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2020 later this year in March. The car built in Colombo, started its journey from the Vega Innovations workshop in the heart of the city and is currently en route Port Rotterdam in the Netherlands from where it will continue all the way to Geneva, Switzerland.

Maersk, with a legacy as a conglomerate within transport and energy, is transforming to become an integrated container logistics company. From operating eight different divisions with a big corporate layer on top, Maersk is now being organized as one company with one frontline organization for Ocean and Logistics & Services businesses which cover all the elements of entire logistical chain.

As part of its end-to-end integrated logistics offerings, Maersk aims to provide logistics on landside in addition to ocean which includes various aspects such as road and rail transportation, documentation, insurances among a lot of other products. Realising this strategy, Maersk Lanka took up the requirements set out by Vega Innovations wherein their electric supercar had to be transported from the workshop it was built in, to the exhibition centre in Geneva and back.

As a part of the solution, Maersk Lanka’s team will manage the entire product journey including Booking Management, Intermodal & Ocean transportation for landside and waterside movement, Warehousing, Customs House Brokerage and regulatory documentation, Value Protect (cargo protection from logistics-related risks), labour management for loading and unloading, as well as third party insurance. With such a unique proposition, Maersk offers its customer the experience of simplifying their logistics by being a single company to deal with for the entire journey of its cargo as well as its reverse logistics. Furthermore, the solution will help the manufacturer in streamlining its overall logistics through the entire journey, cutting down several intermediaries, ensuring safety of cargo and expediting of backend processes.

Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, said “We are pleased to enable the entire journey of the supercar through our integrated end-to-end logistic offerings. Our aim is always to reduce the infrastructure and operational issues for our customers and simplify logistics for them, thereby also reducing the overall cost for the shippers. This project will further help open several new opportunities for simplifying special cargo deliveries across India, Sri Lanka, South Asia and even globally. I am extremely proud that we are now delivering solutions that are embedded with our core strategy.”

Commenting on opting Maersk as their logistics partner, Harsha Subasinghe, CodeGen Group CEO and founder of Vega Innovations, said “Shipping of a high-value supercar involves various logistical challenges. It requires a full-service solution with one point of contact from beginning to end to increase the efficiency and lower the workload. Vega EVX is a result of six years of determination of a steadfast team and we are truly relaxed to have found a reliable and trusted end-to-end logistics partner in Maersk to execute this project. The entire journey is being supervised with dedicated teams that constantly monitor our cargo giving full visibility into real-time tracking and this really gives us peace of mind.”

The Vega EVX is powered by a 40 kWh, 540 V liquid-cooled battery pack which puts out 804 hp peak power and 760 Nm peak torque and gets an estimated driving range of 250 kilometres. The supercar reportedly does zero to 100 kmph in just 3.1 seconds.

About Vega Innovations: Vega Innovations is an electric vehicle (EV) automobile manufacture of electric super cars, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Vega also designs and manufactures EV components such as high-performance inverters, drivetrains and battery packs; as well as provide EV research and development (R&D) services to clients worldwide. Founded in 2013 December by Dr. Harsha Subasinghe CEO of CodeGen International and Dr Beshan Kulapala, with a vision of building high performance, cost effective, sustainable technologies to disrupt the EV market. On its six-year journey, Vega has developed South Asia’s first electric super car, Vega EVX, and will be unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show in March 2020.  Vega is also developing alternative, mass market, transportation vehicles with its international partners. Vega Innovations is a start-up company, part of CodeGen International.

About A.P. Moller – Maersk: NA.P. Moller - Maersk is an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers’ supply chains. As the global leader in shipping services, the company operates in 130 countries and employs roughly 76,000 people.