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When Maersk Line launched Daily Maersk in 2011, many commentators and customers were sceptical. The promise was ambitious: daily cut-offs and delivery dates, with absolute reliability, backed up by a cash compensation for late containers. Could the shipping line deliver what no one else had done before them?
One year later, it is clear that the product has been a roaring success. Connecting ports in the Far East with Northern Europe, Daily Maersk has provided customers with a conveyor belt-like service allowing them to optimise their transportation chain by creating a consistent, frequent and absolutely reliable shipping experience.
“It’s a reform to the shipping industry, totally a new concept!” says Roger Chan from AEL-Berkman Forwarding (Shanghai) Ltd.
The network has provided unmatched reliability, with an average of 98% of the cargo arriving on time. During the period following Chinese New Year, where ocean carriers traditionally have many network changes and low reliability, performance on the Daily Maersk network remained at unprecedented highs of 98.5%, proving Maersk Line could deliver even during the busiest time of year.
In a recent survey of Daily Maersk customers, the majority said that they are saving either time or money as a direct result of using Daily Maersk. Of the 175 customers surveyed, 42% responded that they had saved money on logistics costs as a direct result of using Daily Maersk. Meanwhile, Ryan Ban from Transways admitted that it was “more time saving instead of money saving.”
“Daily Maersk has definitely helped us improve efficiency and speed when it comes to planning and scheduling of our shipments,” says Vijaykumar Kn from Inter Globe Services.
Baboucarr from Radville Farms Ltd. adds that the “efficiency on cut-off enabled us to load all our containers directly onto [the] vessel which saved us from plugging charges last season.”
Another customer sums up their experience and expectation for the future: “The shipping service is excellent – even when having transhipments. I hope you keep on going and that you improve every day to avoid leaving any cargo behind.”
For Ole Pradsgaard, head of the Daily Maersk team in Maersk Line, this is encouraging news: “It is great to see that delivering absolute reliability is making such a difference to our customers, and that they value having a unique and reliable service like Daily Maersk.”
Pradsgaard also spoke about the sustainability of daily cut-offs in a volatile market: “We designed the Daily Maersk network in a way that allows for a high degree of flexibility. So even in today’s market situation, we have the capability to scale capacity and still deliver what customers expect. Our customers are telling us that this product carries a tangible value to them, and we will of course continue to offer Daily Maersk as long as it makes sense to do so.”
Maersk Line said it is determined not to rest on its laurels and is committed to continuously improving and using the learnings from developing Daily Maersk to the benefit of customers.