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For many BCOs, the freight tender is the main event of the year. Rates are negotiated, contracts are signed, and attention shifts back to the wider business.
That approach is understandable. It also explains why freight intelligence may be seen as a seasonal input rather than a year-round capability.
From my time as a shipper, and now as Lead Value Engineer at Xeneta, one pattern shows up consistently. The biggest risks and opportunities in ocean freight rarely appear during the tender itself. They emerge after contracts are signed.
BCOs often ask a simple question: why do I need freight intelligence once my tender is complete? Because that is when freight management starts. The goal is not to win a tender once a year. It is to stay competitive and protected, whatever the market does next.
Stay Aligned with the Market, Not Last Year’s Rates
Freight contracts are fixed. Freight markets are not.
When markets soften, spot and short-term rates can fall quickly while contracted prices remain unchanged. Without a live market reference, BCOs keep paying rates that reflect last quarter’s conditions rather than today’s reality. Over time, that gap becomes material.
But the same principle applies when the market rises. Whatever happens during the year, you want to know whether your rates remain competitive relative to the market, and whether they still protect your ability to move cargo reliably.
BCOs using freight intelligence track market movements on their specific trade lanes throughout the year. When data shows sustained shifts, they have options. In some cases, index-linked clauses can be triggered. In others, procurement teams return to carriers with evidence that pricing no longer reflects the market. In rising markets, that same data helps BCOs understand whether they are still paying a rate that keeps them commercially credible and operationally protected.
This is about staying aligned. Data replaces assumption, and conversations become fact based rather than subjective.
The outcome is straightforward. BCOs avoid months of silent overpayment in soft markets, and they avoid drifting into a position where their pricing is no longer competitive or workable when markets tighten. For LSPs, it often becomes an awkward customer conversation when carrier costs jump above the BCO’s contracted rate expectations, and the forwarder has to explain why execution now requires exceptions or higher-priced space.
Know When to Act and Why
Not all contracts are indexed. Many are fixed annually and left untouched until renewal. That does not mean they should be unmanaged.
Even with fixed contracts, carriers still introduce Peak Season Surcharges, General Rate Increases, or mid-cycle adjustments. Too often, these changes arrive without warning and without a clear way to validate them against the market.
They may also tighten access in other ways, for example by constraining allocations to MQC levels and charging disproportionately high rates for any volume above commitment.
In tightening markets, this creates two risks.
First, BCOs lose negotiating leverage. If a surcharge or increase arrives, teams have no objective reference to check whether it is reasonable for that trade lane, that week, and that market context.
Second, if contracted rates sit too far below where the market has moved, the risk becomes operational. Capacity is finite, and carriers prioritise cargo that best supports their network economics. If your contracted rate is no longer commercially credible, your cargo is more likely to be rolled or deprioritised versus higher-paying volumes.
Freight intelligence helps BCOs spot these shifts early and respond deliberately. Sometimes that means challenging increases with evidence. Sometimes it means moving early to protect capacity and service levels before disruption shows up in rolled cargo, missed sailings, or expediting costs. And sometimes it means revisiting tender timing, using live and historical market signals to avoid locking rates during predictable volatility.
Decision-making shifts from reactive correction to market-timed action, with a clear understanding of both cost exposure and service risk.
Monitor Carrier Performance in Real Time, Not Through Anecdotes
Carrier selection does not end when contracts are signed. Performance needs to be monitored continuously.
Too often, carrier conversations are driven by anecdotal feedback or isolated incidents. A more objective approach combines market benchmarks with performance signals so BCOs can see how carriers are behaving and delivering over time, lane by lane.
This allows shippers to track what matters to them, such as pricing versus market benchmarks, consistency of rate adherence, allocation and capacity depth, schedule reliability by port pair, and emissions performance relative to peers.
The value is practical. BCOs can manage carrier relationships with evidence instead of escalation, and they can reallocate volume earlier when trends show risk building. It also reduces the cost of switching. When onboarding new carriers, decisions are informed by lane-level signals rather than hope and historic relationships.
Combine Market Rates with Operational Reality
Freight decisions do not happen in isolation. They are shaped by service reliability, port performance, and operational risk.
When freight intelligence is combined with operational data, BCOs gain a clearer picture. They can see not only where costs are rising or falling, but also where execution risk is increasing.
This matters in an environment shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, congestion, and shifting trade policy. Certain trade lanes or ports may become less viable, not just because of cost, but because reliability changes quickly. Freight intelligence helps teams spot those patterns and adjust before disruption becomes systemic.
Report to Leadership with Neutral, Defensible Data
Senior leaders want clarity. They want to know whether freight costs are well managed and how performance compares to the market.
Freight intelligence allows BCOs to report contracted rates against true market benchmarks using neutral, third-party data. This builds trust and reduces friction.
When leadership sees that pricing aligns with the market, procurement gains credibility. When gaps appear, they are visible early rather than at year end. Conversations move away from justification and toward decision-making.
This is particularly important when freight spend impacts margins directly. Defensible data strengthens governance, protects teams internally, and supports faster course correction.
Rethink When to Go to Market
Most BCOs renew freight contracts on a fixed annual cycle. It is familiar and rarely questioned.
Market data shows that timing is not always optimal. On some trade lanes, predictable events such as Chinese New Year shift capacity and demand patterns in ways that can distort rates for weeks. If your tender window consistently lands in that volatility, you may be anchoring negotiations to inflated or unstable conditions.
BCOs using freight intelligence analyse historical seasonality and current market signals to decide when to go to market. In some cases, shifting tender timing by a few weeks can improve outcomes, not because negotiation tactics change, but because the market reference point changes.
Timing becomes a strategic decision rather than an administrative one.
Freight Intelligence Is an Operating Tool
Across all these use cases, one point stands out. Freight intelligence is not a tender tool but an operating tool.
The value comes from having the most comprehensive and timely dataset possible, delivered through a platform that makes the insight easy to access and apply. But data and software only solve part of the problem. BCOs also need confidence in how to interpret what they are seeing and how to act on it in live market conditions.
That is why leading shippers pair freight intelligence with expert support. Industry specialists help teams translate market signals into practical decisions, whether that is challenging a surcharge, adjusting allocation, preparing for capacity tightening, or rethinking tender timing.
For BCOs focused on managing cost, risk, and service across the year, the tender is only the starting point. The competitive advantage comes from using freight intelligence between tenders, when conditions shift and decisions actually get tested.
Make Freight Intelligence Part of your Operating Rhythm
Speak to Xeneta to see how BCOs use market benchmarks, carrier performance insights and expert support to manage freight between tenders, protect service during volatility, and stay commercially aligned with the market.
