Dive Brief:
- CMA CGM has added a new online pricing tool called My Prices, the company announced in a press release this week. The tool is part of its eSoultions launched last week, which makes it possible to get bills of lading online, along with pricing and booking.
- Shippers can check their quotes, contracts and any relevant surcharges through the online pricing portal. The site can generate quotes if a customer wants to use a route not included in the contract. The portal will provide a quote after a user has provided a Port of Loading, Port of Discharge, vessel departure date and type of equipment.
- The instant quote is currently only available for CMA CGM and standard dry containers. My Prices can handle contract consultation for CMA CGM, ANL and CNC shipping lines and non-standard equipment like open top containers, flat racks and tank containers. It plans to make instant quote available on other types of equipment in the future.
Dive Insight:
Getting quotes and digital bookings online has been possible in the past, but the My Prices tool centralizes the process by integrating current contracts into the online portal. CMA CGM had already made it possible to get quotes through Freightos and Nyshex, but when using these tools, users would have to refer back to their existing contracts.
The carrier also already had an option to request a quote online, but users would have to wait for a response — My Prices will mean users don't have to wait.
This is all part of what seems like a wave of digitization sweeping through some of the largest ocean carriers as they jockey to get shippers onboard. CMA CGM's CEO called digitization "a key strategic priority for the Group’s development," in the eSolutions announcement last week.
Maersk is also focused on moving the booking process online, the company's CEO Søren Skou said earlier this year." We take 99% of bookings in digital form," Skou said at the TPM conference in March.
Hapag-Lloyd also launched Quick Quotes last year that provides container quotes in 30 seconds. Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Haben Jansen framed the announcement last year as an effort to improve customer service.
"Becoming easier to do business with and digitising our services are very important for us," Jansen said.
