myKN Booking launched for Road Logistics in MEA, as online freight booking picks up
We focused on making this tool intelligent so that it can learn from user behaviours, for example, remembering certain flows that the user executes. That helps them to achieve a short and efficient booking time.
Every transport somehow starts and ends on wheels. And each road freight shipment starts with a booking. But things are changing for the latter. The days of making bookings over the phone call or via email are almost over: Kuehne+Nagel’s Road Logistics division aims to achieve a digital booking rate of 90% by 2026 (up from 85% today).*
The recent launch of myKN Booking for road shipments in the Middle East and Africa will unlock the door to that digital ambition in one of the fastest growing regions. It aligns with Kuehne+Nagel’s Roadmap 2026 and its cornerstones ‘Digital Ecosystem’ and ‘Kuehne+Nagel Experience', as an efficient digital booking process promotes convenience and efficiency.
Configuring to meet local needs
myKN’s Booking feature has already been available for road logistics customers in Europe for several years.** In the Middle East and Africa, however, several additional prerequisites needed to be put in place to enable the launch, which eventually materialised in October 2023.
Noel Fernandez, Global Product Implementation Manager, had this to say: “One key prerequisite was the implementation of our Transport Management System RoadLOG. We completed the rollout to all 10 countries in MEA where Road Logistics is active in the course of 2023. On top, we had to ensure that myKN Booking met the specific booking requirements of the countries in MEA. These differ from Europe. For example, there are no postal codes in some countries in the Middle East and Africa. Hence, we had to configure the system, which takes time.”
Book a shipment in 40 seconds
Once customers start using myKN Booking, they don’t go back to ‘the old ways’. With the planned introduction of myKN Booking in the other regions where Road Logistics is active, reaching 90% by the end of the Roadmap 2026 should be a tick in the box.
And rightfully so, because digital bookings have a lot of benefits. Kuehne+Nagel’s customers praise it for its user-friendliness and efficiency, with one booking taking on average only 40 seconds. “We focused on making the tool intelligent so that it can learn from user behaviours, for example, remembering certain flows that the user executes. That helps them to achieve a short and efficient booking time,” Jens Bossmeyer, Senior Vice President Operations and Technology Global Road Logistics, explains.
What’s more, the intuitiveness of myKN Booking means that customers do not require training to start booking digitally (and to follow each milestone of the order in the myKN tracking portal, which is another benefit for customers who use myKN to book shipments). The same goes for freight forwarders at Kuehne+Nagel—digital bookings eliminate manual tasks such as copying data from emails into systems, simultaneously preventing human error.
New developments underway
myKN is envisioned to be Kuehne+Nagel’s single digital interface for customers globally. This means that it needs to remain user-friendly and adapt, if needed, to changing contexts and requirements. The customer portal myKN is, in fact, constantly under development with new feature releases.
For Sea Logistics customers, for example, the myKN development team recently launched a real-time container tracking dashboard. And when the team noticed a demand for ‘bulk booking’ for road shipments (i.e. a feature to upload multiple bookings at once without having to manually submit individual booking entries one-by-one. This is especially time-saving for customers with many different road shipments and line hauls.), they introduced a feature to upload spreadsheets that contain this data, which is then added to their cart—ready to be booked in one click.
The only missing puzzle piece to truly be Kuehne+Nagel's single digital customer interface, is the introduction of myKN Booking for Road Logistics customers in Asia Pacific and North America. These implementations are already in their preparatory phases.
*Digital bookings include bookings via Kuehne+Nagel’s digital customer platform myKN, but also bookings via EDI/API integrations with the Transport Management Systems of customers.
**For Sea and Air Logistics customers, myKN Booking has been available globally since 2021.
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With over 80,000 employees at almost 1,300 sites in close to 100 countries, the Kuehne+Nagel Group is one of the world's leading logistics providers. Headquartered in Switzerland, Kuehne+Nagel is listed in the Swiss blue-chip stock market index, the SMI. The Group is the global number one in air and sea logistics and has strong market positions in road and contract logistics.
Kuehne+Nagel is the logistics partner of choice for 400,000 customers worldwide. Using its global network, logistics expertise and data-based insights, the Group provides end-to-end supply chain solutions for global companies and industries. As a member of the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi), Kuehne+Nagel is committed to sustainable logistics by reducing its own environmental footprint and by supporting its customers with low-carbon logistics solutions.