News / K+N unveils 'unique' Sea Explorer service to broaden customer choice

Shipper demand for visibility has seen Kuehne + Nagel launch the Sea Explorer service – a “comprehensive” overview of direct sea freight operations.

It gives customers an overview of 3,000 vessels and 750 direct weekly sailings, acting as an extension to its quote, booking and tracking capabilities.

Global head of trade Paolo Montrone told The Loadstar the planning tool was “unique” in the industry.

“It is part of our customer digital experience and displays all possible direct services we offer as Blue Anchor,” said Mr Montrone. “[However] booking and tracking and visibility with reporting is within our KNLogin.”

Analytics come via KN’s data company, LogIndex, and provide reliability and carbon emission scores, as well as “realistic” transit times for individual services.

Mr Montrone said emission scoring was comparative and based on trade or port pairs, providing a rating on calculations in line with Clean Cargo Working Group.

“Reliability scores are calculated by KN based on real-time data from multiple sources and thanks to our high level of integration with carriers,” he added. “And we believe Sea Explorer is unique, taking into account the information and user-friendly experience.

“What is most important is who can execute across the globe with excellent levels of customer service and standardised processes.”

Board member with responsibility for sea freight Otto Schacht said “high” levels of data transparency were of the “utmost” importance to the logistics sector.

“Through Sea Explorer our customers will be able to access the world’s largest portfolio of sea freight service offerings,” said Mr Schacht. “Thus they can base respective decisions not just on transit time parameters, but also on comparative data, such as service reliability and emission rating.”

Roughly 75% of vessels arrive on time and KN said volatile reliability in lead times remained one of the biggest hurdles faced in inventory management.