INTTRA ranks carrier e-booking response time

Maersk and sister carriers perform well in responding to e-bookings, but industry as whole lags in responsiveness.    The ocean freight e-commerce network INTTRA on Wednesday released a set of benchmarks designed to measure how quickly ocean carriers on its platform respond to booking requests.
   The first Ocean Carrier Booking Responsiveness Analysis examines the amount of time it takes to book a container shipment with leading ocean carriers electronically. Despite rising use of electronic booking, INTTRA found that the time it takes for ocean carriers to respond to such requests still exceeds other support channels, such as phone or fax—offering a differentiating advantage to those that can offer e-booking in the fastest manner.
   The analysis measured carrier responsiveness through INTTRA’s platform across all major trade lanes by looking at electronic booking times from the moment a shipper enters a booking request to the carrier’s first definitive response time.
   The top five by this measurement were MCC Transport, Safmarine, United Arab Shipping Company (UASC), Maersk Line, and Hamburg Sud, according to INTTRA. Three of those carriers are part of the A.P. Moeller-Maersk portfolio of carriers. The top carrier, MCC Transport, Maersk’s specialist intra-Asia line, delivered a responsiveness score that is 64 percent faster than the median figure, INTTRA said.
   The median industry responsiveness time on the INTTRA network, measured across the major trade lanes, is 113 minutes.
   “The time it takes for ocean carriers to respond to electronic booking requests is a critical factor in e-shipping adoption,” said Sandra Moran, chief marketing officer for INTTRA. “Too many shippers still rely on manual means, such as phone calls, when booking with a carrier, which does not deliver the same level of savings, shipment data quality or efficiency derived when booking electronically.”
   “As the shipping industry gains new efficiencies through process automation, we recognize that responsiveness—and the speed in which shippers can book with a carrier electronically—is a critical factor driving customer satisfaction,” said Naresh Potty, chief commercial officer at MCC Transport. “It has the added benefit of reducing costs for both us and our customers, and is part of our strategy to deliver consistent service levels across all our customer intake channels.”
   The analysis also looked at whether e-booking responsiveness varied across regions. On the transpacific eastbound, ZIM, Maersk, and UASC were the top three performers, while Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co. were tops on the transpacific westbound.
   Asia-to-Europe westbound, UASC and Maersk were at the top, with Maersk, UASC, and COSCO Container Lines at the top on the backhaul from Europe to Asia.
   The fastest overall trade lane among those examined was the transpacific westbound, with 81 minutes as the median first response time. Asia-Europe westbound was the slowest, with a median response time of 158 minutes.