Maersk Introduces Digital Ocean Customs Clearance

Danish shipping major Maersk has launched Customs Clearance online shipping management platform in seven European countries with an aim to provide simple and easy-to-use solutions.

The platform was set up for Germany, France, Denmark, The Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and Spain, the company said, adding that it plans to expand its offering across the world by the end of 2019.

Maersk explained that international trade is subjected to diverse and wide controls and customs regulations that need to be met to ensure that traded goods are entering and exiting legally. If a delay occurs, the entire plan gets affected. A delay causes increased expenses such as storage costs, fines, and penalties, resulting in additional problems for importers and exporters.

“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,” Vincent Clerc, Chief Commercial Officer of A.P. Moller – Maersk, said.

“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.”

Maersk has piloted its Ocean and Customs Clearance shipping management platform for almost two years in Germany.