Xeneta: High-volume shippers aren’t paying the best shipping rates

Shippers with higher volumes have been locking into long-term contracts, preventing them from taking advantage of current low fuel prices, megaship capacities and more efficient supply chain management, according to the ocean procurement software provider.    Norway-based ocean procurement software provider Xeneta claims high-volume shippers are not paying the best shipping rates.
   Over the course of the last 18 months, high-volume shippers have been locking into long-term agreements, which consequently, prevent them from taking advantage of current low fuel prices, megaship capacities and hyper efficient supply chain management, according to Xeneta.
   “Volume no longer necessarily translates to savings,” Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund said. “In fact, in many cases, big volume shippers are paying far above the current Asia-Europe or Asia-US rates.”
   “These businesses, which are often related to consumer goods, typically sign annual supply contracts with large vendors in order to keep merchandise in their stores, or to supply the giant EU and/or American retail chains,” Berglund added. “This provides them with supply chain stability, and predictability, but it also locks them into agreements that are fixed, and don’t always deliver value.”
   In addition, certain factors such as low fuel prices could cause the rate disparity gap to widen even further, Xeneta said.
   Xeneta’s confidential crowd-sourced software platform provides intelligent benchmarking and rate data analysis for procurement by allowing shippers to submit container freight contract rates on an anonymous basis.