Maersk launches booking system with cancellation penalty

Maersk Line has launched a pilot of a new online platform that will initially offer selected freight services from North China to South America and Africa.

According to the Danish carrier, the platform – ship.maerskline.com – will offer end-to-end booking with immediate confirmation, quoted freight rates and attractive product offerings.

If a booking fails to proceed as planned, the shipping line will offer compensation to customers. Conversely, clients will incur penalties for “no-shows”.

The platform starts with services from the ports of Qingdao, Xingang and Dalian in China to the East Coast of South America, and West and Southern Africa.

It has been made available to all customers following a trial conducted in November.

Maersk Line said it would consider further expansion to other trades and ports based on the performance of the pilot platform.

Silvia Ding, senior vice president and head of trade management at Maersk Line, said carriers were seeing high no-show ratios for booking, which varied hugely from week to week and vessel to vessel.

“This presents a huge challenge for carriers in delivering a reliable product to the customers,” she said. “This pilot platform will provide stability to the supply chain of our customers, increase transparency in pricing and service promises and help improve Maersk Line’s operational efficiency as well.”