The global corona virus epidemic has transformed our business landscape. It has disrupted your – and our – work in many different ways, and we need to tailor our support responses accordingly.

From talking to our customers, we know that many terminal operators have little to do at the moment, while others are completely overloaded. To meet these challenges, we at Kalmar are doing our best to support you with our offering. The situation demands some creative thinking, but we are working overtime to adapt our current services and to launch some new ones.   

New services deployed

Firstly, an immediately accessible thing that we can do is utilising our connected fleets to support you in adjusting your operations to the day-to-day situation. If your terminal is low on work, we can help optimise your equipment downtime for something useful. If cash flow is an issue, we will work with our financing partners to find a solution.

Secondly, for terminals that are struggling with insufficient capacity to meet extremely high demand, we are prepared to move fast to support you with our rental fleets. Likewise, we are ready to deliver the capacity your terminal will need after the pandemic lockdown. Demand always peaks after a crisis, and if you are planning equipment investments in the mid-term future, let us know so we can reserve a slot for you in our planning schedule.

Finally, at our offices worldwide, we have been thinking and moving fast to create new offerings that will support your logistics business both in the current circumstances and in the future. For example, we have been sanitizing equipment between work shifts at many of our customers, and these services have been in very high demand. If this is something that would be useful for your operations, please talk to your Kalmar contact and we will be happy to help.

Overcoming the challenges

I am extremely proud of the Kalmar team and of the work that we have done to keep everyone safe in these very difficult circumstances. Now is the time for us to stay on the move, to think in a more active way of what you, our customers, need, and to be there when you need us.

Online tools and digital communication channels have been invaluable in adapting to the situation, and our teams and customers have already been very efficient in their use. We will be doing more in this area, and are very excited about the official launch of our upcoming webinar series next week. However, the connection works both ways, so please do not hesitate to contact me or anyone else on the extended Kalmar team if there is anything that we can do to help, or if there is a particular form of remote support that you require right now. From online equipment walkarounds and technical tips to informal virtual coffee breaks, there is a lot we can do even without meeting face-to-face.

Our industry has a key role in keeping societies running with a steady flow of cargo through ports, terminals and heavy logistics. We are here for you, and the lines are open. If we remain flexible and communicate with each other, we will find the solutions to our challenges in this rapidly changing world.

Stefan Lampa
President, Kalmar Mobile Solutions