12 July 2006
Japan powers ShipServ 2,000,000 transaction record
Japan is a rising star in ShipServ TradeNet’s e-commerce network as the 2,000,000th transaction is executed.
During the first half of 2006, ShipServ TradeNet has seen the number of ships managed by Japanese owned companies grow significantly by 70% to over 220. This increase is the result of companies such as Meiji Shipping Group, Solar Japan Co., and NYK adopting e-commerce as part of their purchasing strategy.
Japan’s leading status within the shipping industry is further underlined by the fact that more than 150 Japanese suppliers, including ship chandlers, trading houses, spare part providers and manufacturers are receiving transactions via ShipServ TradeNet.
Fuji Trading was ShipServ’s first Japanese customer and therefore an early adopter of e-commerce. In July last year Fuji, along with Teekay Marine Services, received an award for the 1,000,000th transaction.
In the first six months of 2006 Fuji has seen a major increase in its TradeNet business receiving 75% more orders than in same period last year.
Mr. Ono of Fuji Trading, comments: “Early adoption of e-commerce is now bringing us tangible real benefits and we expect this rapid growth to continue. We are working with our customers to encourage more of them to adopt e-commerce as it brings both parties quantifiable savings.”
Similarly Osaka based ISS Machinery Services has seen its order value increase by 100% in the last 12 months. Mr. Ohmori of ISS “We’ve a higher quote to order success rate on TradeNet. We are also saving time and cost as well as benefiting from improved data quality in the order handling process.”
As a result of the membership growth, ShipServ TradeNet, now totaling 60 shipping companies and over 5,000 suppliers, has seen a dramatic increase in its transaction volume with its second million transactions achieved in less than a year when the first million took five years. This growth has been helped by ShipServ being neutral to supplier and buyer interests.
The 2,000,000 transactions to date represent an estimated total value of US$600 million, which makes ShipServ TradeNet the world’s largest e-commerce platform for ship supplies trading.
ShipServ expects its growth to continue, fueled in part by new products, such as its online sourcing tool, ShipServ Pages, released earlier this year. Shipping companies can use this tool free of charge to search for suppliers worldwide according to brands, product categories or ports served. The product is designed to create new and broadening existing relationships between shipping companies and suppliers.