Building a COVID-resilient supply chain episode three: our maritime network

The maritime supply chain is vital to BHP’s success as a global supplier.

The vessels we charter are essential for transporting the commodities we produce to our customers and importing the overseas-made machinery and products we need to run our operations.

In this third and final episode of our resilient supply chain series, Rashpal Bhatti, Vice President, Maritime and Supply Chain Excellence explains the steps we’ve taken to manage the impact of COVID-19 and identify new opportunities emerging in our maritime supply chain.

If you missed the first two episodes in the series, you can read them here: Episode one: procurement | Episode two: customers.

As one of the world’s largest charterers of bulk and containerised ocean freight, BHP plays a significant role in the success of the global maritime industry.

In 2019, we commissioned over 1,500 voyages to import the mining equipment we needed to keep our operations running and export the 250 million tonnes of iron ore, coal, copper and petroleum products we produced to our customers around the world.

The extraordinary conditions surrounding COVID-19 have had a profound impact on global maritime operations and disrupted seaborne trade to varying degrees.

In particular, international border closures and intense quarantine restrictions impacted the industry and the 1.8 million seafarers worldwide, which meant we had to act quickly to protect our inbound and outbound supply chain and support the safety of the crews on our chartered vessels.

Throughout this period, there are many examples of how we kept our business running. We worked with a major rolling stock supplier to secure a prompt shipment of iron ore cars to our Western Australia iron ore business; delivered care packages to our seafarer crews moored offshore to improve their mental wellbeing; and trialled new digital technologies to maintain safety standards across the industry without compromising operational continuity.