Ocean Freight Customer Service Specialist

About the role

The Ocean Freight Customer Service Specialist will serve as the primary point of contact for customers, managing freight allocations, booking inquiries, and billing processes. This role focuses on maintaining high service standards, resolving complex issues, and ensuring smooth execution of global freight operations. The successful candidate will collaborate across internal teams to support customer satisfaction and operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the main point of contact for customer inquiries regarding bookings, allocations, contract terms, and shipment updates
• Manage day-to-day freight allocation requests and coordinate capacity requirements with the procurement team
• Provide timely and accurate information on shipment status, allocation availability, and schedule changes
• Maintain accurate customer records and case documentation within CRM systems
• Handle customer disputes related to freight rates, surcharges, contracts, and service issues
• Review and prepare customer invoices, ensuring billing accuracy and commercial compliance
• Coordinate with carriers, operations, procurement, and finance teams to resolve customer and billing issues
• Monitor allocation utilization and proactively communicate capacity constraints or opportunities
• Track and close customer cases within agreed service-level targets
• Contribute to customer service reporting and process improvement initiatives
• Support the maintenance and enhancement of customer service procedures and best practices
• Escalate complex customer matters appropriately while ensuring excellent customer experience throughout the resolution process

Required skills

• Customer Service
• Ocean freight operations
• Shipping documentation
• Carrier tariffs
• Incoterms
• German
• English
• CRM
• Salesforce
• Zendesk
• Freight contracts
• Microsoft Office
• Outlook
• Excel
• Word

Nice to have

• Logistics

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Logistics, International Trade, or a related field

Certifications

• FIATA
• IATA