How a global tech company validates forwarder pricing with independent freight data

A rapidly evolving product portfolio and monthly rate card cycle, with no independent way to validate what forwarders were charging

This global technology company manages hundreds of millions of dollars in annual air freight spend across a global distribution network, with ocean freight adding further complexity. Unlike traditional manufacturers with annual tender cycles, the team procures forwarder rate cards monthly and negotiates contracts semi-annually or annually, meaning rate volatility hits the business in near-real-time.

A product portfolio shift, from legacy hardware to consumer devices with new peak seasons and new supply chain configurations, compounded the challenge. As product lines changed, so did the lanes, volumes, and carrier mix the team relied on, making historical benchmarks unreliable and increasing the need for current, independent market data.

The core problem was transparency: forwarder-quoted rates were difficult to challenge without an independent source that showed what the underlying airline market rates actually were. The team needed a way to distinguish genuine market movements from forwarder margin, and to build that validation into a fast-moving monthly procurement cycle.

How Xeneta Helped

Independent ocean and air rate intelligence, integrated into a monthly procurement cycle and used to validate forwarder pricing in real time

The company uses Xeneta's Ocean and Air platforms, giving the supply chain and procurement team access to ocean and air market rate data, shipper buying rate data, airline selling rates, volumes and load factor data, and airport and regional capacity intelligence. Together, these datasets create a complete picture of what the market is actually moving at, separate from what forwarders are quoting.

The key use case is forwarder validation: by comparing monthly rate card submissions against Xeneta's airline selling rate data and shipper buying rate benchmarks, the team can identify where forwarder pricing diverges from the underlying market, and where margin is being embedded above what the lane and service level justify. When airline spot rates are lower than existing forwarder contracts, the data provides the basis for a targeted renegotiation.

Xeneta data also serves as the baseline for new product introductions and market expansion decisions, giving the team an independent reference point when entering lanes where the company has no negotiating history. The tender benchmarking tool supports structured RFQ analysis, and the air monitoring tool provides ongoing visibility into rate movements between procurement cycles.

How It Works

From monthly rate card validation to strategic sourcing decisions: Xeneta data is active across the full procurement cycle

Each month, as forwarder rate cards are received, the team uses Xeneta's airline selling rate and shipper buying rate data to assess whether quoted rates are aligned with the underlying market. Where gaps appear, the data supports a direct negotiation conversation, with independent market evidence replacing a rate debate based on the forwarder's own benchmarks. The company has described Xeneta's role in this process as providing "the truth" in pricing, reducing the room for forwarders to anchor negotiations in their own data.

Beyond monthly validation, the platform supports longer-horizon procurement decisions. Ocean and air market rate data, combined with capacity and load factor intelligence, allows the team to monitor weekly and bi-weekly rate movements and respond to market shifts before they are locked into contracts. Regional capacity data informs decisions on which carriers and lanes have available capacity at competitive rates, while the tender benchmarking tool enables structured comparison of forwarder bids across the team's key distribution corridors.

The team has also integrated Xeneta data into its broader supply chain technology stack, using the platform alongside a rate management system to maintain a continuously updated view of market rates against contracted positions. An API integration is under exploration to further automate the flow of market data into internal procurement workflows.

Outcomes

Independent data delivering transparency, negotiation leverage, and procurement confidence across ocean and air.

The Broader Impact

Why independent freight intelligence matters when your procurement cycle runs at the speed of the market.

For a company procuring forwarder rates monthly and managing hundreds of millions in air freight spend, the value of independent market data is not theoretical. Every month, forwarder rate cards arrive without an independent reference point, the risk of overpaying is structural, not incidental. Xeneta changes that equation by making the underlying market visible alongside what forwarders are charging.

The same intelligence that validates monthly rate cards also informs longer-term strategic decisions: which lanes to source competitively, where block space agreements make sense against the spot market, and how to set internal cost baselines as product lines and peak seasons shift. For a company whose freight needs are as dynamic as its product portfolio, a static annual benchmark is not enough. Xeneta provides the continuous, independent market intelligence that a monthly procurement cycle demands.