Maersk Line Launches Instant Booking Confirmation for Importers, Exporters

ABIOLA Seun

Maerskline, the largest container shipping company in the world yesterday said it has launched instant booking confirmation for customers to complete their bookings within seconds.

The new initiative according to press statement made available to newsmen would improve customers’ experience as booking a container with Maersk becomes as easy as booking a flight ticket compared to previous waiting times of up to two hours.

The statement quoted the Chief Commercial Officer, A.P. Moller – Maersk, Vincent Clerc, that eliminating this delay, as the first in the industry, is a top priority for Maersk as the delay triggers uncertainty and extra workloads in managing supply chains for the customers.

It read, “We are now making it as easy for our customers to book a container as booking a flight ticket. Instant booking confirmation makes it faster, easier and simpler for our customers to interact with Maersk. It is a milestone for the entire industry and a concrete example of how we are bringing our strategy to life when we improve the customer experience through seamless digital offerings,” says Vincent Clerc, Chief Commercial Officer A.P. Moller – Maersk.

With the new solution, customers get visibility of sailing options with available vessel space, a list of depots with empty containers to choose from and a choice of relevant value adding services. More importantly – they get certainty that a booking will not be cancelled at a later stage.

Due to lack of vessel space or equipment availability, around 10% of bookings placed in Maersk’s systems were previously either rejected or confirmed for an alternative sailing, often spurring customers to follow up with questions and requests for changes. Such follow-up inquiries have accounted for 15% of all Maersk customer service calls and chats – and close to 200.000 emails every month.

With the release of instant booking confirmation, Maersk is also introducing online booking via the Maersk App. Enabling instant bookings directly from the mobile phone is another functionality that has long been high on Maersk customers’ wish-lists, especially in emerging markets.

“Maersk operates in several markets where mobile phones make up the primary working tool for the workforce. Here, Instant Booking Confirmation straight from the mobile phone will be a huge improvement for our customers’ supply chain managers – it will further enable trade in these markets,” said Sonny Dahl, Global Head of Customer Experience & Service Maersk Line.

Instant booking confirmation is available in beta for all customers through the online booking modules of the Maersk Line, SeaLand and Safmarine brands. The functionality currently covers dry cargo shipments. Refrigerated cargo, dangerous cargo (IMDG) and inland container yards are expected to be added during 2019.