Leading shipping company Maersk has announced the launch of a digital service that simplifies supply chains and provides customers with a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price.
According to a statement, the Maersk Spot platform also helps its clients by addressing some of the fundamental inefficiencies that exist across the industry.
Silvia Ding, Global Head of Ocean Products at Maersk, commented: “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.
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“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.”
As part of the service, users can access “competitive rates” at any time online before instantly fixing a price, thereby transforming the quotation to booking process into one simple transaction.
Maersk has expanded its product offering with Maersk Spot. One of the first customers is @RamcoCements Limited. Fully digitally enabled, the new online product provides customers a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price upfront. Learn more here: https://t.co/4i8WF2nDRJ pic.twitter.com/ojdO7g8WgH
— Maersk (@Maersk) June 25, 2019
Ding added: “Today’s offline process can be up to 13 individual steps, often involving a lot of communication and paper work 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.”
Once the booking is confirmed, Maersk commits to load and grants certainty in operational execution; this mutual commitment is expected to overcome the “vicious cycle of overbookings” currently afflicting carriers.