Monthly Archives: December 2015

How we have improved our customer service standards

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Categories: Solutions, Tips & Trends.

Do you remember a blog article that we wrote about a year ago, that described Greencarrier Liner Agency’s work with improving customer service standards? Well, as promised, we are now back a year later to follow up on the targets set up for each standard and the results from our measurements. Our customers are our top priority, and it is with their help that we can improve our business.              

An extensive knowledge of our customers’ needs – Greencarrier’s main priority

During the year we have been working with a comprehensive project to develop our customer service standards within Greencarrier Liner Agency. We did a customer satisfaction survey in 2014 to find out how our customers perceived us and we received some good business reviews. But most importantly, we got great feedback on how to improve our business and what really matters for our customers when it comes down to everyday business. “Hard facts” like export booking confirmation, the time of arrival notification, the accuracy of export bill of lading and invoicing are factors that play a major role for our customers.

What we did in order to improve our customer service standards

We decided on five focus areas that we wanted to improve – our five Customer Service Standards. We defined goals for each standard, in order to improve our business and service.

  • Accessibility. We always want to be reachable to our customers. We will answer phone calls within five to ten seconds and emails within two hours.
  • Accuracy of export/import invoicing. We want our customers to always have confidence in our work and feel that the accuracy of export and import invoices are correct and processed in the right way. Our ambition is to have 98% accuracy of our invoicing.
  • Export booking confirmation. We have the ambition to confirm bookings within two hours.
  • Accuracy of export B/L. When sending B/L to customers we want these to always be correct with the right information. Our goal is to have 98% accuracy on the export B/L as well.
  • Time of pre­arrival/arrival notice import. When sending our pre­arrival/arrival notice to our import customers our goal is to send this within seven days, and to our transit customer within two days.

We have been measuring our Customer Service Standards during a period of time and now we want to share the results with you! The results are based on all our seven countries’ customer service performances together. Each standard has been measured during a time period of one month. The illustration presents the results from this year’s measurements, where the green circles show our goals, and the blue circles reveal the results.

Customer service standards results external

Valuation work – important for our development and improvement

To sum up our measurements, we can see in the results that our valuation work has succeeded in some areas, for example accuracy of export B/L and export booking confirmation. In some areas we still have improvements to do and we will continue our work in order to reach our goals. We constantly strive towards happy and satisfied customers and the development of our customer service is a job that we never consider to be finished.

As the business climate is changing and we’re moving towards a more rapid handling of systems and processes, the demands become higher as well as the pace. Therefore it is important for Greencarrier to stay updated and well equipped to meet our customer’s requirements and needs. Next year we will do another customer satisfaction survey. We welcome you to follow our development, and to keep an eye out for next year’s results!

What would you say is the most important part of customer service when it comes to logistics and transport companies? Do you think we live up to the market demands?
Feel free to leave a comment in the field below or interact with us in our social media channels. We’d love to know what you think!

/Tuomas Timgren, Greencarrier Liner Agency

The environment is always on Evergreen’s agenda

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Categories: Solutions, Sustainability. Tags: , , , , .

Evergreen Group Chairman and founder, Dr. Chang Yung-fa, once said, “We will not wait for legislation to be introduced. We will always use the latest technology to minimise the impact of container shipping operations on the marine life, seaport communities and humanity worldwide”. These words actually became the vision of Evergreen and have been the company’s road map ever since. In this blog post, I will tell you why the environment is always on Evergreen’s agenda and what they have done to minimise the impact of their vessels.

Mankind has always depended on the oceans for survival and progress

With more than 70 percent of earth’s surface covered with water, mankind has always depended on the oceans for survival and progress. Waterborne transportation has played a central role in the pursuit of a better life with food, clothing, automobiles, computers and almost all daily consumer products delivered efficiently to all parts of the world. Civilizations have grown through economic development relying on trade. Ocean transportation has made this possible with more than 75 percent of global trade, which is more than 6.6 trillion USD of merchandise, today carried over the seas!

We want to keep the earth lush green and the sea brilliant blue

In recent years, the earth and the sea have encountered significant environmental problems, including greenhouse gas emissions, desertification, water and air pollution, ozone depletion, soil erosion and extinction of endangered species. Evergreen Line are committed to be disciplined, diligent and honest in their assessment, planning and operation. It is in line with their core values to keep the earth lush green and the sea brilliant blue. We understand that many cargo owners share our concern for the environment. Evergreen’s long-term efforts in eco-friendly operations and environmental protection have won the recognition and business support from many customers around the globe.

The importance of paying attention to ship emissions and ballast water

Emissions from maritime transports affect air quality and marine environment, posing threat to human lives, health of animals and plants, economic development and even cultural heritage. For example, sulphur dioxide emissions cause acid rain and generate fine dust, which can cause health problems.

Ballast water is carried on ships to adjust ship stability, often taken on in one region and discharged in another. Without proper treatment, it can affect the ecological balance by transferring marine organisms between ports through the ballast water exchange. Discharge of blackwater, greywater and garbage can pollute the oceans and do harm to the marine ecosystem.

What Evergreen do to minimise the environmental impact of their vessels

To deal with the issues of emissions from maritime transports and ballast water, Evergreen’s ships are equipped with various facilities for the purpose of environmental protection. Evergreen Line is committed to a policy to safeguard against all identified risks to the environment. They adopt stringent standards to prevent pollution from spillage and illegal discharge of oil, illegal disposal of garbage and any harmful substance, and by maintaining emissions to a minimum. The vessel crew is well trained and required to comply with applicable international safety and pollution prevention laws and regulations regarding air, water and environment in general; and any other requirements to which we subscribe.

Evergreen perform strict controls of shipboard operations to reduce pollution to the sea, air and land. Ships’ waste, discharge and emissions are closely monitored by shore-based staff. Standard Operational Procedures are in place for sulphur and nitrogen oxides emission controls, ballast management, sewage management, garbage management, oil pollution prevention and leakage prevention of refrigerant.

In addition, they have installed a state-of-the-art computer-based weather routing system developed by a professional weather consultant on the vessels to optimise the voyage plan in a timely manner and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Every Evergreen Line vessel is equipped with the class-approved computer-based cargo loading system to adjust the trim, draft and hull strength, ensuring the ship’s energy efficiency and safety at all times. Shipboard data, such as oil consumption rate, voyage condition, tank condition and loading condition and other data can be transferred through satellite communications to the office for analysis on a daily basis. Evergreen has also reduced the vessel speed and carry minimum ballast water onboard to reduce the fuel consumption and improve energy efficiency.

Now you have learnt something about what Evergreen Line do to minimise the impact of their vessels. In my next blog post, I will remain on course and discuss how it is possible to optimise the navigation of vessels in an eco-friendly way. Keep an eye out! Until then, see you in the social networks.