Maersk Introduces Digital Product For Customers To Make Bookings Easily

Maersk Introduces Digital Product For Customers To Make Bookings Easily

Maersk Introduces Digital Product For Customers To Make Bookings Easily

Maersk has expanded its product offering with Maersk Spot. The new online product which is fully digitally enabled provides customers a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price. Maersk addresses some of the fundamental inefficiencies that exist across the industry as further steps towards simplifying the supply chains of its customers, with the launch of the new product.

“It is not uncommon to see overbookings to the tune of 30%, and often this leads to rolling of the customers’ cargoes since there is overbooking to compensate for the high downfall. This creates a lot of uncertainty for our customers,” says Silvia Ding, Global Head of Ocean Products at Maersk. “With Maersk Spot, we provide full visibility of the price and terms that will ensure cargoes get on board. Ultimately allowing customers to move their cargo in a much simpler and more reliable way.”

The customers will be able to search and get competitive rates online 24/7 with Maersk Spot. When the booking is confirmed, the all-in price is calculated and fixed instantly. This dynamic online pricing fixed at booking creates one transaction for the customer from quotation to booking confirmation, profoundly simplifying the buying process.

“Maersk Spot radically simplifies the buying experience for our customers. Today’s offline process can be up to 13 individual steps, often involving a lot of communication and paperwork from rate sheets to terms and conditions and surcharges, etc. With Maersk Spot, this cumbersome process is reduced to five simple and integrated steps – all online,” says Ding.

When the customer confirms the booking, Maersk commits to load and grants certainty in operational execution. This is a mutual commitment between the customer and Maersk which ensures that the vicious cycle of overbookings is addressed. The fees apply at the customer’s charge in case of booking cancellations. If cargo is rolled, Maersk compensates the customer. The mutual commitment paired with increased visibility of sailings and certainty of prices has been to date embraced by more than 3,000 unique customers each week, with already over 50,000 Forty-Foot-Equivalent (FFE) units booked in Q2.

Ramco Cements Limited is already one of the customers by using Maersk Spot. Every week the company sends around 120-200 containers from Kattupalli port to Colombo, making their bookings one to two weeks in advance so that the delivery to their customers can be ensured on time with the best deal possible.

“We are quite proactive about our bookings but there were still cases where our shipments were not loaded due to capacity issues which resulted in the loss of trust with some of our customers,” says Ramakrishnan D, General Marketing Manager of The Ramco Cements Limited. “With Maersk Spot, we no longer have the uncertainty of not knowing if we can actually provide our customers with their shipments.”

Maersk Spot is now available on all trades, except in and out of U.S. Currently it is available as BETA site. At the beginning of August, the product will be implemented on maersk.com

Reference: maersk.com

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *