Get Ready for Simple Ocean Freight Booking, Scheduling, and Planning
Boost efficiency by simplifying ocean freight operations. Centralize your ocean freight booking, scheduling and planning management by staying connected with all your carriers on one easy-to-use platform.
Smart Multimodal Shipment Planning and Routing
The BuyCo multimodal routing smart algorithm enables transport planners to evaluate all possible door-to-door container shipment routes, including:
- Main ocean transport, inland pre-carriage, and post-carriage
- All inland transport modes: road, rail, and barge
- Both carrier haulage and merchant haulage
Instantly Find the Best Vessel Schedule Among All Carriers
Stop searching for vessel schedules across different carriers’ websites. BuyCo searches and automatically proposes the best options for all vessel schedules in one place.
- Search all carriers’ vessel schedules with your tendered rates
- Select the best route based on distance, rates, inland transit time, or ETA reliability
- Find the most eco-friendly options based on CO2 emissions
Streamline Ocean Freight Booking
BuyCo is connected to 97% of carriers, and integrates with your freight forwarders. Book directly and track the status of your shipments orders directly from the platform.
- Book with any carrier or Freight Forwarder directly from the BuyCo platform
- Let all collaborators view and receive confirmation in one place
- Be alerted on booking status changes and deviations
- Easily manage Shipping Instructions and VGM
- Monitor important shipment milestones like Terminal Cut off, Document cut off dates, Earliest Return Date
Instantly send Shipping instructions and VGM declaration
BuyCo streamlines the management of maritime documents like shipping instructions and VGM declarations. The cargo information is already stored in BuyCo and used when booking a shipment. It is seamlessly integrated from your ERP system, or from BuyCo templates, eliminating the need for any duplicate data entry.
Shippers can create SI and VGM workflows with listed document requirements and assign declarations to specific team members. Once the document is submitted, the task status on the dashboard is automatically set to “completed”.
Automate Your Container Shipping Operations
Perform shipping operation processes in mass and at scale to automate repetitive tasks and boost productivity.
- Automate shipment planning and vessel selection
- Automate booking requests
- Automatically generate Shipping Instructions
Operate Inland Booking
By streamlining the flow of information between shippers and truckers, BuyCo Haulage Hub facilitates smoother operations and more efficient shipment management from origin to port terminal.
- Automated Shipment Updates between BCOs and truckers
- Shipment Assignment and Live Tracking of booking request / confirmation workflow
- Live ERD updates
- Real Time Notifications: Updates to shipment status are instantly communicated to both shippers and truckers
Simplify AES US Export Filing
Connect to the AES system with BuyCo and automatically fills in the necessary cargo data that has already been collected for shipping instructions. Improve efficiency and reduce the risk of errors, delays and possible penalties.
- No double entry for AES: Save time on all declarations
- Connect to AES and send declaration in one click
- Checks and validations prior to submission to increase accuracy
Our customers’ feedback
Overall Rating
Ready to streamline your supply chain?
Set up a personal demo and see how BuyCo will transform your ocean freight booking operations.
Ocean Freight Booking FAQ
1. What is ocean freight booking?
Ocean freight booking is the process of securing space on a container vessel by comparing carrier schedules and routes, selecting the best option, and sending booking requests, typically through a centralized digital platform like BuyCo. It involves selecting schedules, rates, and routing, directly connecting to all carriers.
2. How does ocean freight booking work on an Ocean Freight Software?
An Ocean Freight Software such as BuyCo automates booking workflows:
- Pulls vessel schedules and rate tender data
- Filters and selects optimal options (cost, ETA, CO₂ footprint)
- Sends booking requests in bulk to multiple carriers
Generates Shipping Instructions & Verified Gross Mass (VGM) declarations instantly from existing cargo data
3. What are the benefits of automating ocean freight booking?
Automating ocean freight booking offers:
- Faster processing (book in 3 clicks or bulk book in seconds)
- Fewer errors and reduced manual entry
- Centralized communication with carriers
- Real-time tracking of milestones and confirmations
- Improved visibility on key KPIs (acceptance rates, lead times, CO₂ impact etc)
4. Can ocean freight booking platforms handle multimodal shipments?
Yes. Platforms like BuyCo support door‑to‑door planning, combining ocean, rail, road, and barge transport. They evaluate the full route (pre- and post-carriage) in one integrated process.
5. How do these platforms integrate with existing systems?
BuyCo is 100% API-driven and integrates seamlessly with ERP, SAP, TMS, and freight forwarder systems. Booking details and tracking milestones are automatically synced both ways.
6. What documentation is auto-generated post-booking?
Booking data is repurposed to automatically fill and send:
- Shipping Instructions (SI)
- Verified Gross Mass declarations (VGM)
All templates are pulled from booking entries to avoid retyping and errors.
7. How does ocean freight booking contribute to supply chain visibility?
Ocean freight booking platforms enhance visibility by centralizing key data and communications in one place. All booking details, carrier responses, schedules, documents, and deadlines are accessible to relevant teams and partners. This reduces email back-and-forth, minimizes errors, and ensures everyone stays aligned throughout the shipping process. It also helps standardize workflows and improves transparency across global operations.
8. Can ocean booking software help reduce carbon emissions?
Yes. Shippers can compare vessel schedules not only on cost or ETA, but also on estimated CO₂ output. Post-booking analytics allow tracking of emissions per route and carrier.
9. Is ocean freight booking secure?
BuyCo is ISO 27001‑certified, the international standard for information security. This ensures that booking data and documents remain confidential, accurate, and accessible only by authorized users.
10. What should I look for in ocean freight booking software?
Ideal platforms offer:
- Connectivity to a broad carrier network (BuyCo covers ~97% of global ocean carriers)
- Integrated multimodal routing
- Automated documentation workflows
- Real-time visibility (ETAs, AIS tracking)
Robust reporting and analytics (including CO₂ metrics)