Maersk Launches Digital Ocean Customs Clearance Platform

A.P. Moller – Maersk announced Monday that it has started offering digital Ocean Customs Clearance to its customers, becoming the first carrier in the container shipping industry to do so.

Maersk’s Customs Clearance online shipping management platform will initially launch in seven European countries – including Germany, France, Denmark, The Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and Spain – with the goal of expanding globally by the end of 2019.

The platform is meant to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for handling all export and import declarations to ensure that goods are entering and exiting ports legally, thereby reducing delays, potential customs issues and the number of intermediaries involved. Maersk says the new platform covers all types of cargo across all its brands.

“This new one-stop-shop allows us to timely and efficiently handle export and import declarations for our customers. The solution provides downstream benefits of full governance and compliance, eliminates the need to provide a quote as pricing is displayed online, saving three to five minutes per quote,” explains Vincent Clerc, Chief Commercial Officer of A.P. Moller – Maersk.

“In other words, it saves our customers time, money and headaches reducing the number of intermediaries they deal with from three or four to just one as well as paperwork which subsequently reduce the time spent on transactional procedures. Time saved they can then devote to grow their businesses.”

Maersk points to Germany as an example of where Maersk has piloted this Ocean and Customs Clearance shipping management platform for almost two years.

“It is perfect to book our service request only with one online platform without contacting further operational departments. We prefer local language and we appreciate collaboration between the responsible departments within Maersk. We welcome the possibility to have all Customs House Brokerage documents uploaded on the internet platform (quick plus easy handling). Would be good to have one invoice handling in the future, but okay for now. The Customs House Broker service provided by the relevant departments is excellent” states Robert Weber from Speditionsabteilung at Neenah Gessner GmBH.