NYSHEX, CMA CGM team up on peak season export venture

French ocean carrier CMA CGM will offer U.S. export shippers guaranteed rates and ship dates through four ports via the New York Shipping Exchange’s forward contract model.    French ocean carrier CMA CGM is partnering with the New York Shipping Exchange (NYSHEX) to offer U.S. exporters guaranteed rates through four U.S. ports to Asia.
   The program entails exporters using CMA CGM backhaul capacity and NYSHEX’s forward contract structure. American Shipper detailed the NYSHEX model in its February 2017 cover story, “The times they are a-changin’.“
   According to the companies, the NYSHEX Forward product is a “digital and secure freight contract which stipulates that shipper’s cargo will be shipped on the dates and at the price that are contracted via the exchange, shippers can maintain supply chain integrity.”
   The guaranteed service option will run during the transpacific peak season from August to October. For select sailings from Houston, Savannah, Miami and Jacksonville, over the eight-week period beginning August 27, competitive offers for key Asia destinations will be updated regularly by CMA CGM on the NYSHEX exchange.
   “NYSHEX ensures we are held accountable for delivering these services,” said Laurent Olmeta, vice president of trade, U.S. export, at CMA CGM. “We also benefit from knowing which cargo has been committed to us making it easier to plan our vessels and equipment flows.”
   Carriers during the peak season often struggle to serve export shippers because it is sometimes operationally more lucrative to ship containers empty back to Asia than to reposition them to where export shippers need them. By ensuring that cargo will actually show up, this program could conceivably give a carrier more assurance that the repositioning costs to serve that cargo are worth it.
   The ultimate goal of NYSHEX is to eliminate the behavior of carriers overbooking vessels and shippers making multiple bookings for the same shipment and no-showing on some of those bookings.
   “NYSHEX makes it possible for carriers to make offers directly with active shippers and NVOCCs,” NYSHEX Chief Executive Officer Gordon Downes said. “NYSHEX displays details of the carrier offers, as well as the available capacity and rates for each departure. All of this is done digitally and in real time.”
   Carriers and freight buyers transact on the exchange and are assessed penalties for failing to live up to the terms of their contracts.