Sea Logistics Customer Care Specialist, Import (Chennai)

Kuehne Nagel; Chennai; On-site; INR 500,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Kuehne+Nagel in Chennai seeks a Customer Care specialist to support frontline customer inquiries, quotations and order processing for sea freight. You will collaborate with Sales, Operations and Finance to ensure service levels and customer satisfaction, handling complaints and onboarding new requirements.

Strong knowledge of ocean export processes, export documentation, and effective stakeholder communication are essential for success in this role.

Qualifications

• Experience in sea freight/ocean export operations.
• Strong freight forwarding and export documentation knowledge.
• Customer service and query resolution experience.
• Experience in freight quotations and rate negotiation.
• Customer relationship management and retention.
• Complaint handling and escalation resolution.
• Coordination with Sales, Operations, Finance and overseas offices.
• Customer onboarding and shipment order processing.
• KPI, SLA and customer reporting experience.
• Strong communication, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Drive customer engagement, satisfaction, retention and reactivation with Field Sales and OCC.
• Maintain operational relations with customer contacts through daily interactions and visits.
• Qualify inquiries and provide quotations within price band, follow up for acceptance.
• Assist customer onboarding and transfer requirements into KN systems.
• Qualify and enter customer orders into execution process.
• Collaborate with Finance to adjust credit limits and manage challenges.
• Document, resolve and analyze complaints to identify root causes.
• Create, review and refine customer reports.
• Ensure delivery aligns with financial targets and strategic objectives.

Skills

Sea freight knowledge

Export documentation

Customer service

Quotations & price negotiation

CRM & customer retention

Complaint handling

Stakeholder management

Order processing

Reporting via KPI/SLA

Communication skills

Job description

It's more than a job

As a member of the Freight Forwarding team Kuehne+Nagel, you will play a key role in transporting goods, optimising processes, and fulfilling our customers' promises. And by transporting medicines, toys and important machine parts, you are not only delivering goods, you are making small and big moments possible for people all around the world. At Kuehne+Nagel, our contribution counts in more ways than we imagine.

You will be joining our Customer Care Team to add your expertise + skills to the delivery of Customer Excellence.

You will support customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, + responding to complaints.

Utilizing your strong forwarding + market knowledge, you will provide front line support for customers to ensure customer satisfaction with our products, services + features.

How you create impact

• To drive customer engagement, satisfaction, retention + reactivation in close cooperation with Field Sales and the Operational Care Center (OCC).
• To establish + strengthen operational relation to customer contact(s) through daily interactions, regular care visits + pro-actively advising + consulting to ensure customer satisfaction.
• To qualify customer inquiries + provide quotations within the given price band, in line with the guiding leeway in decision-making, then following up to ensure quotations are accepted + closed.
• To support customer onboarding in line with working instructions, ensuring inclusion + transfer of customer requirements into the KN systems alongside the (initial) customer order.
• To qualify + enter customer orders into the operational execution process.
• To collaborate with Finance to adjust credit limits based on daily business development + coordinate measures in case of challenges.
• To document, resolve, analyze all complaints + then identify, share + eliminate root causes.
• To create, review + refine customer reports.
• To ensure delivery against all financial targets + strategic objectives.

What we would like you to bring

• Experience in sea freight / ocean export operations.
• Strong freight forwarding and export documentation knowledge.
• Customer service and query resolution experience.
• Experience in freight quotations and rate negotiation.
• Customer relationship management and retention.
• Complaint handling and escalation resolution.
• Coordination with Sales, Operations, Finance and overseas offices.
• Customer onboarding and shipment order processing.
• KPI, SLA and customer reporting experience.
• Strong communication, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills

What's in it for you

• Work with a Global Leader - Join one of the world's top logistics companies with a strong international presence and reputation.
• Career Development - Access structured growth opportunities, professional training, and internal mobility within a global organization.
• Attractive Compensation - Competitive salary with performance-based incentives and benefits.
• Collaborative Work Culture - Be part of a supportive, ethical, and compliance-driven team environment.
• Local Role, Global Impact - Influence regional business growth while working with global tools, systems, and best practices.

Who we are

Logistics shapes everyday life - from the goods we consume to the healthcare we rely on. At Kuehne+Nagel, your work goes beyond logistics; it enables both ordinary and special moments in the lives of people around the world.

As a global leader with a strong heritage and a vision to move the world forward, we offer a safe, stable environment where your career can make a real difference. Whether we help deliver life-saving medicines, develop sustainable transportation solutions or support our local communities, your career will contribute to more than you can imagine.

We kindly advise that placement agencies refrain from submitting unsolicited profiles. Any submissions of candidates without prior signed agreement will be considered our property and no fees will be paid.