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Sailing schedules where and when you want them
Sailing schedules where and when you want them
OceanSchedules.com
Edition of November 04, 2008
With all the sailing schedule changes carriers implement, the new alliances, new options, how can shippers and freight forwarders quickly and easily access carrier schedule data? Where can shippers and freight forwarders go to check their global ocean shipping options for specific trade lanes 24/7?Only a little over a year old, OceanSchedules.com, the fast and easy-to-use global, comprehensive sailing schedules search site, is changing the way shippers, freight forwarders, NVOs, and others access global sailing schedules. Shippers enter targeted searches port to port or point to point to achieve multi-carrier search results all at no cost to the user. The intuitive screens are powered by OceanSchedules.com’s powerful Schedule Manager an interactive tool that allows shippers to sort and filter data in the following ways:
Search results include the carrier name, date/day of departure, transit time, and date/day of arrival. Each voyage listing includes an information button that provides voyage information including the vessel name, voyage number, Lloyd’s number, port of export, and port of discharge. The second interactive button offers users a vehicle to contact carriers for more information. Shipper requests for quotes or additional information are sent in real-time to carriers with activated carrier contact buttons. The last button allows registered users to make an electronic booking with those carriers that support bookings via INTTRA, the largest e-commerce shipping portal.A popular feature is the schedule download capability. Users save schedule searches for future analysis by simply downloading the schedules to an Excel spreadsheet format.Over 80% of global container schedules are listed on OceanSchedules.com amounting to over nine million voyages. A total of twenty-six carriers list their schedules and they regularly update their schedule listings, direct from their systems, to ensure schedule data is timely. The voyage listings will continue to grow as ocean carriers add their schedules to the site at no cost to them.When registered users were surveyed OceanSchedules.com found that 34% of users make 6 or more searches per week. 42% have contacted a carrier as a result of using OceanSchedules.com, and 52% have selected a carrier based on searching OceanSchedules.comOceanSchedules.com now has 9000 registered users and 45,000 unique users per month.OceanSchedules.com SelectA new offering from OceanSchedules.com is Select which allows forwarders, carriers, software companies, trade associations, and port authorities to brand, integrate, and customize OceanSchedules.com Web pages for their own site.April 2008 MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) posted a customized, white labeled version of OceanSchedules.com on their website to compliment their weekly PDF e-mail schedules service.Shippers and freight forwarders increasingly adopt electronic processes to increase efficiencies in the shipping process. OceanSchedules.com provides a fast and easy electronic solution to streamline sailing schedule searches saving hours of time spent compiling schedule data from different sources. | Andy Barrons, Managing Director, OceanSchedules.com interview What challenges did you face when you started and what have you learned from those challenges? The challenge was gathering global multi-carrier schedule information in one place in order to deliver a useful resource. OceanSchedules.com needed to be developed and designed around the data that was available and consolidated in one database. In addition, we needed to make sure that the data provided is valuable for the user. We have learned that the users of an online product want the experience to be fast and easy, and that OceanSchedules.com needed to meet the expectations of today’s users who are used to getting online information quickly from sources such as Google and Yahoo. In addition to the need for a fast and easy experience, we learned that we must provide data that is essential to the shippers’ needs. OceanSchedules.com provides a feedback mechanism that allows users to alert OceanSchedules.com to data quality issues and the essential data they desire. What challenges is the shipping industry facing at the moment? The shipping industry is facing rising fuels costs and changes in routes, trade lanes due to a slowdown in the US–Asia/Pacific and Asia/Pacific-Europe trade lanes as well as other economic factors. With shifting capacity sailing schedules change frequently and OceanSchedules.com reflects these changes. In addition, with costs rising overall improvements in productivity are very important. A schedule resource such as OceanSchedules.com, that is free and easy to access online, helps shippers be more efficient. What advice can you give a potential shipper or freight forwarder and would you encourage them to use your services? More and more shippers are seeking ways to work with ocean carriers electronically to save time and reduce errors in the shipping process. OceanSchedules.com supports this trend in Latin America and I encourage anyone not familiar with OceanSchedules.com to see how easy it is to use e-business. | |||
