14 August 2006
Dredging giant chooses ShipServ as e-commerce provider
One of the world’s largest dredging companies, Van Oord, has signed an agreement with ShipServ and is now actively trading with their suppliers on its e-marketplace, ShipServ TradeNet.
Van Oord has a worldwide reputation for its involvement in dredging and marine contracting. It owns a versatile state-of-the-art fleet.
The decision to adopt e-commerce as part of the company’s purchasing strategy was made in March. The integration of ShipServ TradeNet to Van Oord’s DataStream purchasing system was done in the remarkably short time of 8 weeks – bearing in mind that this was the first integration made to DataStream.
Adopting e-commerce has long been on Van Oord’s radar and the company has been impressed by the e-commerce experiences of other owners. The principal benefits that it expects from implementing ShipServ are cost and cycle time reduction but also data quality improvement. Additionally, the information gained from KPI analysis and benchmarking will be very valuable.
Van Oord is satisfied with the swift implementation of ShipServ’s solutions. This made it possible for them to start trading electronically with its suppliers. The interaction between ShipServ and Van Oord during the integration was very professional on both sides. As a result of that, the integration process was done in a very short time and the training and support given by ShipServ enabled Van Oord to change its internal procurement processes smoothly.
Commenting on this, Freddy Ingemann, ShipServ’s Vice President of Sales said: “This agreement shows the strength of our network and solutions. We have been able to implement electronic purchasing in a new market, i.e. the dredging market, within a short time. This will not only mean an increase in the number of suppliers connected to TradeNet, but will also enable existing supplier members to grow their customer base”.
Lately, ShipServ has seen an increased interest in e-commerce within the shipping industry and Van Oord is only one of several new shipping companies to join ShipServ TradeNet, now totaling 65 shipping companies, an increase of 12 in three months.
To meet the industry’s demand, ShipServ has expanded its range of solutions. Earlier this year, the online sourcing tool, ShipServ Pages was launched. Shipping companies can use this tool free of charge to search for suppliers worldwide according to brands, product categories or ports served.