When discussing efficiency in container logistics, attention usually goes to vessel schedules, port productivity, customs clearance, trucking capacity and warehouse operations.
But there is another factor that can determine how efficiently a logistics company operates: cash flow.
A business can have cargo ready to move and customers ready to receive it, yet still have part of its working capital temporarily tied up in the management of containers.
That is the financial issue behind a new partnership between Maersk and Viaservice, which is making the Viaservice Container Solution (VCS) available to eligible Maersk customers in Kenya.
The partnership, announced in August 2026, builds on an existing collaboration between the two companies in Tanzania and introduces the solution into a Kenyan logistics market where the Port of Mombasa serves as a major gateway for cargo moving into Kenya and wider East Africa.
The working-capital challenge behind container management
For businesses handling containers regularly, the financial requirements associated with equipment can extend beyond the cost of transporting the cargo itself.
Traditionally, when an importer or other eligible customer receives a container, the shipping line may require a refundable container deposit before releasing the equipment. The deposit is returned once the empty container is handed back, subject to the applicable conditions.
For a company handling only one container, the amount involved may be manageable. The situation becomes different when a freight forwarder or logistics business is handling multiple containers at the same time.
Capital can then be committed across several transactions while the business is simultaneously paying for transport, warehousing, customs-related activities, labour and other operating expenses.
The issue is therefore not necessarily the permanent cost of the deposit. It is the temporary loss of liquidity while that money is unavailable for other business activities.
This is the gap VCS is designed to address.
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How the Viaservice Container Solution works
According to Viaservice, eligible customers can access an alternative arrangement that allows containers to be released without the customer paying the traditional container deposit themselves.
Viaservice provides an advance payment facility for demurrage, damage and total-loss obligations on behalf of the customer, on a reimbursement basis.
The distinction is important. VCS does not simply remove the customer’s underlying financial responsibilities. Instead, it changes how those obligations are funded.
In practical terms, the model can allow a logistics business to preserve more of its own liquidity while Viaservice provides the relevant financial facility.
This means that container management becomes partly a financing question as well as an operational one.
For a business managing several shipments simultaneously, maintaining access to working capital can be important because cash tied up in one transaction cannot easily be used to support another.
Why working capital matters in freight forwarding
Freight forwarding is a business in which timing matters.
A forwarder may have to coordinate shipping documentation, customs processes, port activities, transport providers, warehouses and customers, often across several shipments at once.
The more cargo a business handles, the greater the potential pressure on working capital.
A financing mechanism that allows eligible businesses to avoid placing substantial amounts of their own cash into refundable container deposits could therefore give them greater flexibility.
The benefit is not necessarily that the total cost of logistics disappears. Rather, the company may be able to use its available capital more efficiently.
For example, capital that would otherwise remain temporarily committed to container-related requirements could potentially remain available for other operational needs. This could include paying transport providers, managing warehouse expenses or supporting additional cargo movements.
The commercial value of such a solution will ultimately depend on eligibility, financing terms, transaction volumes and the costs associated with using the facility. Those factors will determine whether the model makes economic sense for individual businesses.
Why Mombasa makes Kenya strategically important
The significance of the partnership also extends beyond individual importers and freight forwarders.
The Port of Mombasa is an important gateway for Kenyan trade and for cargo moving along regional corridors into landlocked and neighbouring markets.
That means the efficiency of container operations in Kenya can have implications for businesses involved in wider East African supply chains.
Maersk’s Area Managing Director for Eastern Africa, Tito Okuku, described the partnership as a way of addressing both operational and financial challenges faced by customers. The company has also linked the initiative to the role of Mombasa in serving regional trade corridors.
This makes the partnership interesting from a wider logistics perspective.
If businesses can reduce the amount of their own working capital temporarily committed to container-related requirements, the potential benefit is not limited to the moment when a container is released. It can influence how companies manage liquidity across a series of shipments.
However, it would be premature to claim that VCS will automatically reduce congestion at Mombasa or lower overall logistics costs. The announcement does not provide evidence for such conclusions.
Its more immediate proposition is financial: helping eligible customers manage liquidity while meeting container-related obligations.
From cargo flow to capital flow
One of the more interesting developments in modern logistics is the increasing connection between physical supply chains and financial services.
Digital logistics platforms have traditionally focused on areas such as cargo visibility, documentation, tracking and operational coordination. Trade-financing solutions address another part of the supply chain: the money required to keep transactions moving.
This is particularly relevant in emerging markets, where access to working capital can influence how quickly logistics businesses can expand their operations.
Viaservice Managing Director John Mathenge said the company has focused on financing challenges faced by freight forwarders and logistics businesses since introducing VCS, with the aim of helping customers improve cash flow, optimise operations and move cargo more efficiently.
The partnership with Maersk gives the solution access to a wider customer base in Kenya while combining Viaservice’s financial platform with Maersk’s logistics network.
Tanzania provides an important reference point
The Kenyan launch is not being presented as an entirely new experiment.
Maersk and Viaservice already have a collaboration in Tanzania, and the Kenyan partnership expands that relationship into another important East African market.
The companies have not, however, published detailed performance figures in the announcement showing how much working capital has been released for Tanzanian customers or how much the solution has reduced logistics costs.
Those figures would be useful in assessing the commercial impact of the model.
For Kenyan logistics businesses, the important questions will therefore include the cost of accessing the facility, eligibility requirements, transaction limits, processing times and the scale of businesses that can realistically benefit.
A financing layer for Kenya’s container logistics
The Maersk–Viaservice partnership illustrates how the future of logistics may involve more than improving the physical movement of cargo.
For freight forwarders and other businesses handling containers, capital is itself part of the supply chain.
A container cannot move efficiently if the business responsible for moving it cannot manage the financial obligations attached to that movement.
VCS is designed to address that problem by providing an alternative financing mechanism around container-related obligations.
Whether it becomes widely adopted in Kenya will depend on its economics and ease of use. But its arrival highlights an increasingly important area of logistics innovation: finding ways to make not only cargo, but also the capital supporting that cargo, move more efficiently.
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