Brazilian petrochemical manufacturer Braskem plans to establish a logistics hub in Singapore in partnership with Danish shipping firm AP Moller-Maersk and Singapore port operator PSA, which can help shorten lead times for its polymer supplies to growing markets like China, India, Japan and Indonesia.
The partnership will see Braskem managing the hub's operations and focusing on global logistics and hub-in-transit services at the port of Singapore, Braskem said. The port of Singapore is the world's largest bunkering hub.
The move comes off the back of Braskem's existing partnership with PSA through the forward hubbing scheme, which allows the Brazilian firm to use PSA Singapore — the world's largest container transshipment hub — as a regional distribution centre. PSA Singapore is connected to 600 ports in more than 120 countries and handled 36.6mn 20-foot equivalent unit containers (TEUs) in 2020.
Braskem, a key producer of biopolymers, is also looking to boost market accessibility to sustainable packaging material in the Asian region through the partnership. Biopolymers are polymers produced from natural sources and an alternative to oil-based polymers.
The firm's 200,000 t/yr green polyethylene (PE) plant in Triunfo, Brazil, can produce high-density PE, linear low-density PE and low-density PE made from sugarcane ethanol, for applications ranging from rigid and flexible packaging to caps, closures, bags.
Braskem also started up a 450,000 t/yr polypropylene (PP) plant at La Porte in the US state of Texas late last year. PP output from this new plant may be exported to Asia-Pacific if netbacks are strong.
