Maersk says its online Spot booking product was moving about 8,000 forty-foot-equivalent units a week by the end of the second quarter of 2019, representing 8% of its spot volumes. Its August 15 interim report shows early use of a two-sided commitment: Maersk promises to load the cargo, while customers pay a fee if they cancel. The 8% is a share of spot volumes, not all cargo carried by the company. [S1][S2]

For a company arranging a shipment, Spot joins the price quote and confirmed booking in a single online transaction. Maersk’s June 25 announcement says the price is calculated and fixed when confirmation is issued, rather than leaving the customer to piece together rate sheets, terms and surcharges through an offline exchange. Maersk described five online steps in place of as many as 13 offline steps. That is the carrier’s description of its booking process, not a measured reduction in customers’ working hours. [S1]

The loading promise has a financial counterpart. Maersk says it compensates customers if their cargo is rolled—left off the intended sailing—while charging customers who cancel their bookings. This changes the decision facing a shipping team whose goods may not be ready in time. Reserving space offers a carrier commitment, but canceling that reservation has a cost. A price fixed at booking does not remove the customer’s exposure to its own change of plan. [S1]

The figures describe use, not whether the guarantee worked. In June, Maersk reported more than 50,000 forty-foot-equivalent units booked so far in the second quarter. The August report instead describes approximately 8,000 units moving per week at quarter-end. Accumulated bookings and weekly cargo movements are different measures. Neither figure establishes how often Spot cargo was rolled or what customers received in compensation. [S1][S2]

The August report still excludes trade lanes into and out of the United States, while describing Spot as available on other trade lanes. The June announcement’s plan to put Spot on maersk.com at the beginning of August should not be read as a promise to open U.S. shipments at the same time. [S1][S2]

Neither the launch announcement nor the report’s Spot discussion specifies the cancellation-fee amount or compensation payable for rolled cargo. A shipper therefore cannot calculate the price of flexibility from those documents alone. Before confirming a booking, the useful comparison is the actual cancellation fee against the compensation and conditions attached to the carrier’s loading promise. [S1][S2]

Source documents

  1. Maersk introduces Maersk Spot, a new fully online product that simplifies the buying process for customershttps://www.maersk.com/~/media_sc9/maersk/news/press-releases/files/2019/06/190625_press-release_maersk-introduces-maersk-spot_26_05.pdf
  2. A.P. Moller - Maersk Interim Report Q2 2019https://www.maersk.com/~/media_sc9/maersk/news/press-releases/files/2019/08/apmm-interim-report-q2_2019.pdf