Maersk’s rainbow 40’ container – one of 19 containers that are deployed in the company’s global operations participated in the Charlotte Pride Parade.
Maersk maintains a fleet of specially-painted rainbow containers which participate in DEI events around the world. The rainbow containers have appeared in Pride events and parades this summer in Copenhagen, Denmark; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Vienna, Austria; Warsaw, Poland; Genoa, Italy; Zurich, Switzerland; Chennai, India; Santiago, Chile; Guayaquil, Ecuador and Lima, Peru amongst others.
The rainbow container was at the Maersk Charlotte office on 9300 Arrowpoint Boulevard as part of an employee event featuring local North Carolina barbeque food, a taco truck and music for employees – who were able to go inside the container to sign their names in support of the initiative. For both this event and the parade, the Maersk rainbow container was mounted to a Pride-decorated 40 foot chassis provided by DCLI, the largest supplier of chassis equipment to the U.S. intermodal industry.
“Maersk is proud to demonstrate our commitment to DEI which are core principles of our company working environment. Maersk’s rainbow containers have served as a symbol of inclusion and diversity, boldly sharing with the world the company’s stand on creating a culture where all employees, partners, and customers feel welcomed and can be themselves without judgment.” said Derrick Shirley, Maersk North America’s Regional Head of HR Business Partners, based in Charlotte.
Back in July 2020, two Maersk containers were skillfully painted in the United States with a rainbow to join Maersk’s fleet and embarked on their first World Tour. The first part of the journey was aboard the Maersk Edmonton from APM Terminals Pier 400 Los Angeles to Yokohama, Japan. The containers stopped at several locations across Asia and Europe, before finally ending their tour in Denmark for the Copenhagen Pride parade in 2021.
During their World Tour, the containers have been made available to A.P. Moller-Maersk employees during strategic points in the journey for them to sign – and around the world, many have taken the chance to share their hopes for a future of improved diversity and inclusion.
The rainbow fleet of containers are part of Maersk’s working global container fleet and deployments have included humanitarian aid to hurricane survivors in Louisiana in September 2020. APM Terminals Mobile, Alabama, the Alabama State Port Authority, Maersk Special Projects & Team Rubicon worked together collect over 36,000 lbs. of water, non-perishable food and other emergency supplies for distribution to victims of Hurricane Laura in communities surrounding Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Maersk’s clients have also showed interest in the use of these rainbow containers to move their goods around the world, and during the tour they have visited numerous customer sites for employee events.
“The response from our customers has been overwhelming, with many wanting to be part of the tour and others asking for more rainbow containers.” said Rob Townley, Global Head of Special Project Logistics Growth Enablement in Washington D.C., and one of the initiators of the World Tour.
In Charlotte, Maersk employs 1000+ people along with APM Terminals North America, representing the company’s largest office in Maersk North America’s network of 50 offices and 10,000 colleagues.