The manual booking process on CMA CGM
A CMA CGM booking cycle runs from schedule search through product selection, submission, and amendment management — with per-country cancellation rules and alliance vessel assignments that affect downstream workflows.
- 01
Search schedules on My CMA CGM
Enter origin and destination port pair, cargo type, and target dates on the My CMA CGM eBusiness portal. Review available services across the Ocean Alliance Day 10 network — 41 weekly services deploying 394 vessels with 520+ direct port pairs. Most Asia-Europe and Mediterranean services route via the Cape of Good Hope.
- 02
Choose between SpotOn and contract rate
For lanes with active contract coverage, select the contract rate. For ad hoc shipments or lanes without contract coverage, use SpotOn for an instant quote with a 24-hour price guarantee. SpotOn provides priority booking confirmation within 2 hours, priority equipment release, and priority loading. Lock My Price extends price validity to 72 hours for bookings requiring multi-party approval.
Pain pointThe SpotOn vs contract decision requires comparing the instant quote against the contract rate plus factoring in SpotOn's priority loading and equipment benefits. This is a judgment call that junior ops staff often escalate to senior reviewers.
- 03
Configure booking details
Enter container type, count, cargo details, DG flag (if applicable), and preferred departure date. For DG cargo, the booking form DG checkbox must be ticked with IMO class, UN number, and per-container DG details — DCO acceptance is required before loading. CMA CGM+ add-ons are available at this stage: SEAPRIORITY (priority loading, included in SpotOn by default but available as a standalone add-on for contract bookings), FREETIME Extended, and ACT carbon offsetting.
- 04
Review routing and operating carrier
The booking may route on a CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL, or Evergreen vessel depending on the Ocean Alliance service string. Two Transatlantic loops use ONE tonnage under a separate cooperation (revised in February 2026 to 2 loops / 14 vessels, with Baltimore dropped from the port rotation and a 37% capacity cut on the North Europe to US East Coast lane). The operating carrier affects downstream SI routing, DG restrictions, and tracking data sources.
Pain pointThe operating carrier may differ from the booking carrier (CMA CGM). DG restrictions on an alliance partner vessel may exceed CMA CGM's own policy. Ops staff need to identify the operating carrier from the booking confirmation to adjust downstream workflows.
- 05
Submit booking and await confirmation
Submit through the eBusiness portal, SpotOn module, EDI (INTTRA, Infor Nexus, CargoSmart), or API. SpotOn bookings receive priority confirmation within 2 hours. Contract bookings follow standard confirmation timelines. CMA CGM does not publish a contract booking confirmation SLA equivalent to Maersk Spot's 25-second instant confirmation.
- 06
Handle amendments and cancellations
First booking amendment is free in Germany and France. Subsequent amendments cost EUR 25/amendment. Cancellation fees vary by country: Singapore charges $80/container for cancellations less than 7 days before departure, France charges EUR 200/container. CMA CGM does not publish a single global cancellation cut-off rule — each country office sets its own timeline and fee.
Pain pointPer-country cancellation fees with different thresholds mean ops teams cannot apply a single cancellation rule across all CMA CGM bookings. A cancellation that is free in one geography may cost EUR 200/container in another.
Ocean Alliance network and routing context
CMA CGM bookings route across the Ocean Alliance network — a vessel-sharing agreement with COSCO Shipping, OOCL, and Evergreen, extended to 2032. The Day 10 Product (effective April 2026) deploys approximately 394 vessels across 41 weekly services with ~5.3 million TEU capacity and 520+ direct port pairs. On the Transatlantic, Ocean Alliance operates two loops under a separate cooperation with ONE — revised in February 2026 to 2 loops with 14 vessels and ~10,386 TEU weekly on the North Europe to US East Coast lane (a 37% capacity cut versus the pre-revision baseline), with Baltimore dropped from the port rotation.
Most Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean services route via the Cape of Good Hope. CMA CGM briefly announced Suez Canal returns for three services (FAL 1, FAL 3, MEX) but pulled back in January 2026, citing the "complex and uncertain international context." The INDAMEX service appears to still route via Suez. Cape routing adds approximately 10–14 days of transit time compared to Suez, and any future routing changes back to Suez will shift ETAs materially.
The alliance context matters for booking because the operating carrier on any given leg may be COSCO, OOCL, Evergreen, or ONE, not CMA CGM. DG restrictions on partner vessels may exceed CMA CGM's own policy. Tracking data for alliance-operated legs may flow through the partner carrier's system before appearing in CMA CGM's visibility platform. And Ocean Alliance's schedule reliability (approximately 68% in March/April 2026 per Sea-Intelligence GLP #177) runs below Gemini's ~85%, requiring wider ETA variance windows when making commitments to consignees.
Where CMA CGM booking errors happen
The most common CMA CGM booking fee triggers and operational traps, based on published fee structures and patterns across freight forwarder ops desks.
SpotOn price expiry
CommonThe 24-hour SpotOn price lock expires before booking submission — typically because multi-party approval takes longer than expected. Lock My Price was not activated. The forwarder must request a new quote at a potentially different rate. SpotOn accounts for over 60% of CMA CGM spot volumes, so this is not a niche scenario.
Operating carrier mismatch
CommonA CMA CGM booking routes on a COSCO, OOCL, or Evergreen vessel under the Ocean Alliance. Downstream SI preparation, DG declarations, and tracking workflows reference CMA CGM as the carrier, but the operating carrier is different. DG restrictions on a partner vessel may exceed CMA CGM's own policy, blocking loading.
Cape routing transit time underestimate
CommonETA committed to the consignee based on Suez-era transit times. The actual routing is Cape of Good Hope, adding 10–14 days on Asia-Europe and Asia-Mediterranean services. CMA CGM pulled back from a Suez return for FAL 1, FAL 3, and MEX in January 2026 — ops teams that assumed those services would return to Suez had to revise ETAs.
Cancellation fee surprise
OccasionalCancellation fees are per-country with different thresholds and amounts. Singapore: $80/container for cancellation less than 7 days before departure. France: EUR 200/container. Germany's cancellation fee schedule is not publicly documented in the reviewed materials. A forwarder cancelling across multiple geographies may face materially different costs for the same action.
Rolled cargo on non-priority bookings
OccasionalContract booking without SpotOn or SEAPRIORITY add-on. Container rolled to the next sailing on a congested service. SpotOn provides 'priority loading' but no contractual loading guarantee with compensation equivalent to Maersk Spot's +/-3 day window. There is no Rollable option with a published compensation fee.
DG booking without DCO pre-approval
OccasionalDG checkbox ticked on the booking form but Dangerous Cargo Office acceptance not obtained before equipment release. CMA CGM requires DCO acceptance from one of five global offices (Marseille, Le Havre, Norfolk, Hong Kong, Melbourne) before any DG cargo can be loaded. Initiating DG approval at the documentation stage instead of the booking stage causes delays.
Brand routing confusion
OccasionalBooking under APL (APLU) or ANL (ANNU) versus CMA CGM (CMDU) routes through different local agency teams. All brands flow through the same eBusiness platform, but different local offices handle the documentation. Booking under the wrong brand identity causes routing errors downstream.
How Expedion agents handle CMA CGM bookings
Expedion agents automate the end-to-end CMA CGM booking workflow, from rate evaluation to confirmation and amendment management.
Agents retrieve the SpotOn instant quote and compare against the forwarder's contract rates, factoring in priority loading, equipment release benefits, and SEA REWARD points. The decision is presented to the forwarder's reviewer when the SpotOn rate exceeds defined thresholds or when priority benefits warrant the spot premium.
Agents evaluate available Ocean Alliance service strings for each port pair, weighing published transit time, the Cape of Good Hope routing add for Asia-Europe/Med services, and alliance vessel assignment. The operating carrier for each booking is flagged so downstream workflows account for the partner carrier's characteristics.
For bookings requiring multi-party approval, agents activate Lock My Price to extend SpotOn price validity from 24 hours to 72 hours, preventing price expiry during the approval cycle.
Agents route booking amendments through digital channels and track amendment counts against per-country fee thresholds (first free, then EUR 25/amendment in Germany and France). Cancellation decisions are surfaced to the forwarder before the applicable country-office cut-off window, with the per-country fee impact stated.
For DG bookings, agents initiate DCO acceptance at booking stage — not documentation stage — flagging IMO class, UN number, and per-container DG details to the relevant Dangerous Cargo Office. DCO acceptance numbers are tracked through to loading.
For bookings on services where the operating carrier may be COSCO, OOCL, Evergreen, or ONE (Transatlantic), agents flag the operating carrier context so downstream tracking and ETA planning use the correct carrier's performance data rather than CMA CGM's standalone baseline.
Agents surface relevant add-ons based on booking characteristics: SEAPRIORITY for contract bookings on congested lanes (replicating SpotOn's built-in priority loading), FREETIME Extended for shipments with uncertain pickup timing, and Lock My Price for SpotOn bookings requiring extended approval cycles.
SpotOn vs Maersk Spot vs MSC Instant Quote
Spot booking product comparison across the three largest container carriers. These are structural differences in the product, not pricing.
| Feature | CMA CGM SpotOn | Maersk Spot | MSC Instant Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price lock duration | 24 hours (72h with Lock My Price) | Instant lock at booking | Quote-based |
| Confirmation time | Priority within 2 hours | 25 seconds (dry CY/CY) | Instant quote generation |
| Loading guarantee | Priority loading (no contractual guarantee) | Booked vessel +/-3 days from ETD, or compensation | None |
| Rollable option | No | Yes (compensation fee per FFE) | No |
| Compensation for carrier failure | No published mechanism | Published Rollable Compensation Fee | None |
| Loyalty program | SEA REWARD (Nautical Miles, 4 tiers) | No | No |
| Equipment scope | Dry only | Dry, reefer, special | Dry only (20'/40'/45') |
TMS compatibility for CMA CGM booking
Expedion agents place CMA CGM bookings from within your existing TMS. For CargoWise users, agents exchange booking data via the eAdaptor API (XML/SOAP) and submit through CMA CGM's eBusiness portal or EDI via INTTRA. For GoFreight and Magaya, agents use the respective REST and Open APIs for forwarder-side data exchange, with CMA CGM's REST API at api-portal.cma-cgm.com handling the carrier-side integration. Contract bookings flow through these channels.
SpotOn is portal-native. It drives more than 60% of CMA CGM spot volume but does not expose instant-quote pricing fields to third-party TMSs. Expedion agents bridge the gap by driving the SpotOn flow on My CMA CGM, capturing the 24-hour quote (72 hours with Lock My Price), and returning the confirmation to the TMS so the booking record matches what contract channels would write. Full TMS compatibility details are on the CMA CGM overview page.
Related pages
CMA CGM carrier pages: Overview · Shipping instructions · Bill of lading · Documentation · Tracking & visibility
Booking across carriers: Maersk booking · MSC booking · Hapag-Lloyd booking · ONE booking · COSCO booking · Evergreen booking
Solutions: Booking automation
Frequently asked questions
How does SpotOn compare to Maersk Spot?
Both are digital spot-rate booking products, but they differ in commitment structure. CMA CGM SpotOn guarantees the quoted price for 24 hours (72 hours with Lock My Price) and provides priority booking confirmation within 2 hours, priority equipment release, and priority loading. Maersk Spot provides instant booking confirmation within 25 seconds and a two-way loading guarantee — loading on the booked vessel +/-3 days from ETD, or compensation. SpotOn's priority commitments are less specific than Maersk Spot's contractual loading guarantee. SpotOn includes the SEA REWARD loyalty program (Nautical Miles, four tiers); Maersk Spot does not have a loyalty component.
What is SpotOn's price lock duration?
SpotOn guarantees the quoted price for 24 hours from quote generation. The Lock My Price add-on extends price validity to 72 hours for bookings requiring multi-party approval. Both durations are longer than Maersk Spot's instant-lock-at-booking model but shorter than reusable quote windows on some other carriers.
Does CMA CGM offer a loading guarantee?
CMA CGM's SpotOn provides 'priority loading' and 'priority equipment release,' but does not publish a contractual loading guarantee with compensation mechanics equivalent to Maersk Spot's +/-3 day window. There is no Rollable option and no published compensation fee for carrier failure. For forwarders who value space certainty, Maersk Spot offers the strongest commitment among top-4 carriers.
What are CMA CGM's booking cancellation fees?
Cancellation fees are per-country, not global. Singapore charges $80 per container for cancellations less than 7 days before departure. France charges EUR 200 per container. Germany's booking amendment fee is EUR 25/amendment after the first free one. CMA CGM does not publish a single global cancellation cut-off rule equivalent to Maersk's 7-day Spot policy. Each country office sets its own timeline and fee schedule.
Can I book on CMA CGM partner vessels (COSCO, Evergreen)?
Yes. Under the Ocean Alliance Day 10 Product (effective April 2026), CMA CGM bookings may route on COSCO, OOCL, or Evergreen vessels across 41 weekly services. Two Transatlantic loops additionally use ONE tonnage under a separate cooperation (revised in February 2026 to 2 loops / 14 vessels, with Baltimore dropped from the port rotation and a 37% capacity cut on the North Europe to US East Coast lane). The operating carrier is assigned by the alliance service string, not by the forwarder. Expedion agents flag the operating carrier context on every booking so downstream tracking and ETA planning account for the partner carrier's characteristics.
What is SEAPRIORITY?
SEAPRIORITY is a CMA CGM+ add-on that provides priority loading and priority equipment release. It is included by default in SpotOn bookings but also available as a standalone add-on for contract-rate bookings. For contract shippers on congested lanes where rolling risk is a concern, SEAPRIORITY provides some of SpotOn's priority benefits without switching to spot pricing.