Maersk launched an online product to address the problem of overbookings. Maersk Spot provides customers a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price upfront. Maersk Spot is available on all trades, except in and out of US.
With Maersk Spot, the all-in price is calculated and fixed when the booking is confirmed.
As Maersk said, when a booking is confirmed, the company commits to offer operational execution. This ensures that the issue of overbookings is addressed. In case of booking cancellations, fees apply at the customer’s charge. If cargo is rolled, then Maersk compensates the customer.
Speaking about the new solution, Silvia Ding, Global Head of Ocean Products at Maersk, stated:
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
Ms. Ding added that Maersk Spot simplifies the buying experience. She explained that today, the offline procedure consists of up to 13 individual steps, often including a lot of communication and paper work. Maersk Spot aspires to reduce this to five online steps.
Maersk Spot is available on all trades, except in and out of US. It is also available as BETA site, and it will be implemented on maersk.com at the beginning of August.
