Travelport has been awarded a new long-term technology contract with marine and corporate travel agency Eurasia Travel Network (ETN) to support the shipping industry.
According to the technology company, the marine industry is responsible for around 90 per cent of global trade and the new deal comes after ETN, a subsidiary of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), entered into a joint venture to provide specialised maritime travel services for the energy, resources and marine sectors.
As part of the agreement, Travelport will continue to provide ETN with real-time access to a range of content from more than 400 airlines, “hundreds of thousands” of hotels and more than 37,000 car rental locations worldwide. The agency will in turn have access to search, automation, shopping and booking technologies, data, business logic and profiling functionalities via Travelport’s platform.
Damiano Sabatino, VP and MD of key account management for Europe at Travelport, commented: “The international shipping industry is a highly complex operation that often requires crew, technical and executive travellers to be able to move quickly and efficiently between multiple locations around the globe. Having access to advanced technological solutions that provide planners and travel management companies with enhanced visibility, control and flexibility has been crucial for our travel partners in the maritime sector. We are delighted to extend our relationship with ETN.”
Yiannis Sykas, BSM’s director of strategy and product development, added: “We are proud to welcome Travelport on board as our strategic partner, reinforcing one of our key strategic objectives, which is innovation. We have a deep understanding of what customers in the shipping industry need and we are sure that with Travelport we will be able to offer an exceptional experience of buying and managing travel for everyone through one platform.”
The new agreement extends a relationship between Travelport and ETN that has been in place for more than 15 years.
Earlier this year, BSM formed a joint venture with BCD Travel to offer services for the marine industry.
travelport.com; eurasiatravelnetwork.com; bs-shipmanagement.com