Maersk has expanded its product offering with Maersk Spot, a new fully online product that simplifies the buying process for customers. Fully digitally enabled, the new online product provides customers a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price upfront.
“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 all-in price is calculated and fixed when the booking is confirmed, which happens instantly. This dynamic online pricing fixed at booking creates one transaction for the customer from quotation to booking confirmation, simplifying the buying process.
When a booking is confirmed by the customer, Maersk commits to load and grants certainty in operational execution. In case of booking cancellations, fees apply at the customer’s charge. 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.
One of the customers using Maersk Spot is The Ramco Cements Limited. The company sends around 120-200 containers from Kattupalli port to Colombo every week. Ramakrishnan Vivekanandan, General Marketing Manager of The Ramco Cements Limited says, “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 available as BETA site, the product will be implemented on maersk.com at the beginning of August.
Source: Maersk
