How Maersk Go helped a family business realise their global ambitions

Talking with Jan Schittkowski, co-founder of Carrie Box

Carrie Box was established to make lounging and playing in the pool on a warm summer day more convenient – by developing a storage basket to attach to the side of the pool. Now, the German family business has scaled up and entered a new market: the US. Here’s how Maersk Go supported their logistics needs and global ambitions.

From chimney sweep to successful family business

The German family business CA-SA Product GmbH started as many other start-ups do – when a need manifested itself in co-founder Jan Schittkowski’s own life. More specifically, when his children wanted to spend all day in the pool during the increasingly hot summers. Whenever they wanted to grab their phone for pictures, fetch some toys, or make sure the children had enough water to drink while basking in the sun, they had to get out of the pool.

So, in 2020, Jan Schittkowski put his job as a chimney sweeper on hold to pursue an idea: the Carrie Box – a practical storage basket you can hang on the side of the pool to store all the essentials for a nice time in water, and to reduce the mess of having goggles, snorkels, and other toys scattered throughout the garden.

Two years later and supported by Maersk Go, the Carrie Box has travelled across the Atlantic to reach a new group of pool-lounging customers in the US.

Getting the right logistics services as a new start-up

Lack of transparency, high costs, and a struggle to find the right logistics partner were some of the major challenges Carrie Box faced when the company was launched. Carrie Box was initially produced in China, meaning the company required support in moving their goods from their Chinese warehouse to Europe. Getting the right logistics service proved tricky; many of Jan Schittkowski’s enquiries were left unanswered or it took a lot of back and forth to get a response and a reasonable rate.

Then came the challenge of scaling the business internationally, requiring containers to be shipped not only from China to Europe, but also to the US, and having to deal with all the unknowns of entering a new market across the Atlantic.

What Carrie Box has to say

Entering new markets with a reliable logistics partner

From documentation and regulation to costs and logistics, expanding internationally can be a big task for small and medium businesses. This is where the right logistics partner is crucial. By providing the knowledge, experience, and logistics services required to enter a new market, combined with a thorough understanding of the major barriers SMEs face in this endeavour, Maersk Go was able to support Carrie Box and their global ambitions.

Carrie Box had achieved great success on the European market and established another production facility in the Netherlands. But there were many more pools out there in the world that could use a practical storage basket. The company was rebranded to Misomo as part of an expansion of their offerings with a wide range of other pool-related products being added to their catalogue. Maersk Go helped accommodate the new business opportunities for the company and ensured containers were shipped efficiently not only from China to Europe, but now also to America.

With a solid foot planted in both Europe and the US, Carrie Box (now Misomo) wants to expand further in both markets to ensure no pool is without a storage basket – with the support of Maersk Go digital logistics platform and support team.