INTTRA bookings up 14% during summer

The ocean shipping electronic marketplace said data collected during the June-August period relative to overall container trade growth shows ocean shippers are increasing their use of electronic bookings.    Summer has been a busy period for ocean freight bookings, according to data from the ocean shipping marketplace INTTRA, who said bookings on its platform rose 14 percent in June, July, and August over the same months in 2014.
   INTTRA, which estimates that roughly a quarter of container trade globally is booked through its portal, processed 8.7 million bookings and shipping instructions combined during the three-month period. Its growth in the period outpaced industry container volume indicators during the period, leading the company to suggest the number of companies booking ocean freight via its electronic platform is growing.
   Ocean freight procurement platforms such as INTTRA that enable electronic booking are intended to help shippers and freight forwarders standardize their transactions to save money and reducing booking and shipping instruction errors.