Is shipping adriſt on a sea of sameness?


8


Shipping lines haven’t traditionally thought of themselves as owning or managing brands – but perhaps they should. In our first Sea Freight Forum, Russell Gillespie, global head of customer experience and brand at Safmarine, looks at the all- important issue of identity.


Most businesses hold the view, and have done for many years, that it’s far more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to keep the ones they have and grow with them. Safmarine is no different. Since Safmarine’s acquisition by


the AP Moller Maersk group at the turn of the Millennium, we have multiplied the container volumes that we carry more than four times; that’s doubling in size twice, in less than a decade. That’s not easily done by only doing business with the same customers, though a very significant part of our success is due to a loyal customer base that grows with us. Many businesses that actively


pursue customer loyalty and customer retention do so off a unique and differentiated value proposition. This may be relatively elementary, such as a lowest price offering, or something more complex – for example, a suite of services and offerings that customers find attractive and can’t find from another supplier. In containerised shipping we


bemoan rising costs, downward rate pressures, the vagaries of supply and demand - and chase the lowest unit cost. Yet how different are the carriers in offering shippers and agents different and unique value propositions? Propositions


that might cause


segments of the market to actively prefer and seek out one carrier over another? Propositions that are delivered consistently across what in many cases is a global business? Do shipping line customers


experience a ‘sea of sameness’ across the carriers? Mercedes Benz is known,


amongst other things, for making luxury cars. While BMW also makes luxury cars, they’re known for high performance, driver’s cars


(‘The Ultimate Driving


Machine’…). Both of these brands own a position in the market; they focus their messages around this position, deliver a customer


Branding does have an impact on customer choice, insists leading liner operator, Safmarine


Issue 2 2013


///SEA FREIGHT FORUM


NEWS ROUNDUP SHIPPING


CKYH - the Green Alliance (COSCON, K LINE, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping) is reorganising its Asia–North Europe service. It will suspend its NE1 loop and will not resume NE4 suspended in October but port coverage will be retained on the remaining four loops. Three loops will serve Felixstowe – NE2, NE3 and NE7.


ZIM will make some changes to its services between Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Eastern Med and North Europe. The India Sub-Continent-Europe trade will be served on the INE service, serving Tilbury, Nhava Sheva and Mundra. The Med- North Europe trade will be served by two loops: NE1 calling at Felixstowe, north-west Europe and Ashdod, Alexandria and Haifa, returning via Ashdod and Valencia to Felixstowe; and NE2 calling at Felixstowe and north-west Europe to Haifa, Limassol, Alexandria, Ashdod and Salerno and then back to Felixstowe.


Short-sea line Unifeeder may be up for sale by its owner, Montagu, according to reports. Montagu led and arranged a management buyout of Unifeeder from its founders in July 2007.


Associated British Ports has gained Marine Management Organisation approval to dredge the entrance to the Port of Southampton as part of its programme to upgrade facilities to handle the world’s largest containerships.


experience in line with it and strive to be consistent in the delivery. The fact is that brands impact choice,


customer in some


industries at a significant level, and in others, less so. How well have container shipping brands managed to convey a message on a value proposition, to tell a story, to influence customer or shipper choice? At Safmarine, we certainly


are far from perfect or perfectly managed from a brand perspective. We have a long road still to travel but we are paying particular attention to how we manage the Safmarine brand and how we can achieve greater consistency of the delivery of our value proposition to the market and to our customers. Since being acquired by the


AP Moller Maersk Group, we’ve succeeded not only in growing, but in staying profitable and retaining our brand presence. We know something about the importance of brand management, having employees that are proud of and engaged with the Safmarine brand (we call all those that are part of the Safmarine family ‘Safmariners’) and customers that are attracted by the Safmarine brand proposition. We’ve built on our legacy from


the early 2000s of ‘Personalised Shipping Solutions’, which evolved to ‘People Making the Difference’ in the latter part of the decade and have now


established a global customer


value proposition, articulating our brand guiding principles through what we call ‘Thinking, Being, Behaving Orange’. We have also implemented a training programme for all Safmariners called ‘Living Orange’ which focuses on uniting Safmariners in delivering a unique Safmarine brand of service and customer experience. Our five guiding principles are: 1. We place the Customer at the core of our thinking and our actions. The Customer is at the heart of what we do, and how we do it.


2. We act as a partner to our customers and our suppliers, believing that long-term success is very seldom built on short-term gain.


3. We are committed to working as a team, sharing our successes as a team and having fun as a team.


4. We build and value relationships, we are trustworthy and have integrity. We own issues, face challenges and find solutions.


5. We believe in going the extra mile, being accessible and accommodating – and being personal, committed and understanding. I still wonder how much


difference there is actually between the many different container lines in the eyes of customers when we strip away


differences on rates, ship size and capacity and product focused differences such as schedule reliability? I believe that container lines


would be able to add greater value to the market and to our customers’ businesses by exploring


and managing


brands and their requisite value propositions, and by ensuring they can consistently deliver against a brand proposition. Customers will thus be able to make choices more effectively, and perhaps more easily, and show a preference for one carrier over another for clear value-adding reasons that make sense for their business, whether it be driven by lowest price, the need for a certain experience or for the value-add from a suite of services and possibilities. The value for the container lines


is through the ability to focus our efforts and investments, thereby making possible rationalized delivery (to serve focus segments that respond to the brand proposition),


and just quite


possibly for some, to compete at a level beyond price and product. In Safmarine we’re taking


the challenge, and having some success. While we have some way to go, we’re happy to be on the journey. It’s engaging for staff and of value to our customers and business. We feel there is the opportunity for the industry to create greater value by sailing out of the sea of same. Don’t you?


Japan’s MOL says that it has become one of the first shipping companies to set up its wholly owned subsidiary in Myanmar. The new company, Myanmar MOL Ltd, will be based in Yangon. MOL has operated a direct feeder service from Singapore to Yangon since March 2012. And Maersk Line and MCC Transport are to station an owner’s representative in Myanmar as a prelude to setting up a full branch office in the second half of 2013.


Forth Ports has appointed Debbie Bartlett as development director for the Port of Tilbury. She will help companies wishing to relocate their operations and develop more innovative supply chain solutions at the port in line with the port owner’s strategy to develop port centric solutions.


Bunn Fertiliser Limited has signed a five-year deal with PD Ports to supply its Scottish and northern UK customers with Koch Advanced Nitrogen fertiliser products via Teesport. Teesport’s 80,000 square feet of storage capacity has been added to the company’s existing network of eight terminals.


European ferry operator Stena Line is branching out into the Far East with its first Asian route between Sokcho in South Korea and the Russian ports of Zarubino and Vladivostok through its Stena International Freight arm. The route will initially be serviced by one ship, the RoPax ferry M/V New Blue Ocean, which can carry 1,400 metres of trucks, trailers and containers as well as 750 passengers.


Brittany Ferries’ freighter Cotentin will operate a midweek return trip from Poole to Bilbao in addition to the long established weekend ‘French by-pass’ service from Poole to Santander. She will also help out on the Poole/Cherbourg service at busy times for freight, alongside the Barfleur which also goes back in service from the same date.


OPDR Hamburg is offering its first direct container service from the UK to Casablanca, says UK agent


John Good Shipping. A


revamped schedule will be operated by OPDR’s five sister vessels and will, for the first time, include a direct service between Felixstowe and Casablanca. In the past, this service has been routed via Rotterdam under a slot agreement with a third party carrier. Departures from Felixstowe are on Saturdays, arriving in Casablanca the following Saturday and there is a seven-day transit time in both directions.


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