Crowley Maritime Launches Expanded E-Commerce Capability with GT Nexus Technology
Crowley Online Services debuts as dedicated platform for electronic shipment processing and customer service, powered by GT Nexus software and infrastructure
(Alameda, Calif.; July 02, 2003) – In a major expansion of its Web-based shipment transaction and information resources for customers, Crowley Liner Services, a leading U.S.-flag ocean carrier, has launched Crowley Online Services (COS). The initiative marks the successful implementation of an innovative e-commerce project with GT Nexus, a Crowley technology partner and provider of global logistics software services and infrastructure.
Located at www.crowley.com, the new online transaction center enables Crowley customers to perform a full complement of cargo management tasks, including schedule look-ups, making bookings, preparing and sending shipping documents, and shipment tracking.
“At COS, users experience the Crowley brand and a visual look and feel that is consistent across our website,” said Nancy Ritter, Crowley’s vice president of information technology. “But when you get under the hood, youll find were leveraging best-of-breed transaction management software and infrastructure, hosted and operated for us by GT Nexus.”
Ritter noted that the e-commerce project addresses a strategic customer satisfaction and technology investment initiative in which the company’s goals are to:
o Differentiate and elevate its brand and service through more efficient and customer-friendly online transaction management tools, delivered over the Web.
o Reduce transaction costs through standardizing and automating customer-facing business processes while maximizing return from its technology spend.
Crowley is also a participant in GTN, the ocean transportation portal that was built by GT Nexus and is sponsored by a consortium of leading ocean carriers. GTN member-carriers have integrated their own proprietary systems to the portal to provide their collective customers with an industry-standard platform for core business transactions.
Customers want familiar, easy to use online services from their ocean carriers, just like they get them from other freight transportation providers and in other businesses, noted Rinus Schepen, Crowleys senior vice president and general manager of Latin America services. They also want to choose the path of engagement thats best for their business which could be a dedicated web site or an industry portal. Our strategy gives them both.
Ritter emphasized the value gained by Crowley from standardizing its customer e-commerce services on the GT Nexus technology. Using GT Nexus as the technology foundation for COS lets us leverage all the internal training, as well as application integration, data quality and data synchronization work done previously between our operating systems and the GTN portal.
“The most important influence,” Schepen said, “was customer response. Our customers have embraced the online services deployed through the GTN portal. Over that channel alone, in two years weve gone from zero to nearly 20 percent of our business coming to us through the portal as automated, electronic transactions.”
With the launch of the COS platform, Ritter expects the percentage of electronic business transactions to rapidly increase.
“COS uses proven, familiar Web technology,” she said. “It allows us to differentiate our product offering through an exclusive, dedicated online channel where we can provide enhanced personal service to customers. We are seeing adoption of these electronic tools accelerate.”
Crowley joins leading companies such as The Home Depot, Mitsubishi, MOL (Mitsui O.S.K. Lines), KB Toys, Dupont, LG Electronics, Celanese and Hewlett-Packard as customers who have purchased GT Nexus technology solutions.
ABOUT CROWLEY LINER SERVICES — Crowley Liner Services, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., is a subsidiary of Oakland-based Crowley Maritime Corporation and is part of its liner segment. The corporation, founded in 1892, is primarily family- and employee-owned, and is engaged in worldwide logistics, liner services, contract towing and transportation, energy support services, ship assist and escort services, vessel management and petroleum and chemical marine transport. Additional information about Crowley and its subsidiaries may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.
ABOUT GT NEXUS — GT Nexus is a leading provider of global logistics and supply chain software, services and infrastructure. GT Nexus enables enterprises and third party logistics providers to optimize and manage the flow of goods and information through a single platform, from order point to final delivery, anywhere around the globe. The company serves global customers across industries with a comprehensive and integrated offering that spans and links three critical activity areas: multi-modal transportation management, global supply chain visibility, and performance management. GT Nexus technology also powers GTN the worlds leading portal for the ocean transportation industry. Backed by a consortium of global carriers based in Europe, Asia and the Americas, GTN provides a common transaction platform and seamless access to the global market for containerized shipping. For more about GT Nexus, visit us at www.gtnexus.com.
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