Every Friday afternoon, the SCFI prints. Every Thursday, the Drewry WCI updates. Every business day, the Freightos FBX refreshes across 40 plus lanes. By Monday morning, a freight forwarder who is running a proper rate update process already knows which trade lanes moved, which carriers announced GRIs, and which customers need a call before their next booking. The forwarder who is not running that process finds out when the customer emails to ask why the invoice is 800 dollars higher than the quote.
This guide walks through the freight rate update framework that separates forwarders operating as rate intelligence partners from forwarders operating as price takers. It covers the five indices worth tracking, the rate movement categories that show up on invoices, the weekly reporting cadence, the report template that customers actually read, and the way to convert a rate reporting workflow into billable business intelligence.
Ocean freight spot rates on the Shanghai to US West Coast lane have swung between 1,200 dollars and 8,000 dollars per FEU inside the last five years. Asia to North Europe has swung wider. Air freight rates on Hong Kong to Frankfurt double and halve inside a single quarter when passenger belly capacity moves. A forwarder quoting off a rate sheet that was updated three weeks ago is exposed on every shipment booked in the interval.
The customers who buy freight capacity from forwarders have caught on. Large shippers with in house freight teams now expect their forwarders to arrive at the weekly rate call with a fresh view of SCFI, WCI, and FBX, an interpretation of what the numbers mean for their specific lane mix, and a recommendation on whether to draw on contract allocation or push volume to the spot market this week.
That expectation is what the framework in this guide is built to serve. The forwarder who runs a disciplined weekly rate update process retains customers on advisory value even when a competitor offers a five percent discount. The forwarder who does not runs the discount war and loses margin whether they win the volume or not.
A rate update framework starts with a small, stable set of indices. Tracking twenty indices dilutes attention. Tracking five gives every operator on the rate desk the same shared vocabulary and the same weekly rhythm.
The SCFI is published every Friday by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. It tracks Shanghai export spot rates on fifteen trade lanes, quoted in US dollars per TEU or per FEU depending on the trade. It is the highest frequency spot index for the world's largest export origin, which makes it the single most watched print on the ocean side.
The SCFI is a spot index. It shows what shippers paid in the week just closed, not what carriers announced or what contract customers pay. When carriers push a GRI or PSS, the SCFI in the following two weeks tells you how much of the announcement actually stuck.
The CCFI is the SCFI's older sibling, also published by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. It tracks a broader basket of China origin container freight lanes, including a mix of spot and contract rates, and publishes monthly with a weekly indicative print.
Because the CCFI blends contract and spot, it moves more slowly than the SCFI. It is the reference index for lanes where contract share is high and spot volatility is less relevant. For trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe, most forwarders lead with SCFI and treat CCFI as a slower moving confirmation.
The Drewry WCI is published every Thursday. It tracks eight major container trade lanes, with per FEU rates for both spot and short term contract. Drewry's methodology is respected across the industry because it includes shipper survey data alongside carrier and freight forwarder input.
The WCI is particularly strong on the trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe lanes, which is where the majority of a forwarder's volatility exposure sits. Thursday's WCI print plus Friday's SCFI print gives you two independent reads on the same lanes going into the weekend.
The FBX is published daily by Freightos in partnership with the Baltic Exchange. It covers 40 plus lanes globally, including intra-Asia routes that SCFI and WCI do not track well. FBX is the highest frequency container index available and is the go to reference when a lane needs an intraweek read.
Forwarders often use FBX as the working weekly reference because of the coverage breadth, then cross check the trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe reads against SCFI and WCI for a triangulated view.
The TAC Index is the leading air freight rate benchmark, published weekly. It tracks per kilogram air rates on major lanes out of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other Asia origins, plus a growing set of trans-Atlantic and European lanes.
Air freight rate reporting is a smaller share of most forwarder rate desks, but a growing share of billable value as customers add e commerce and time critical shipments. Layering TAC Index into the weekly report keeps the air freight desk on the same rhythm as the ocean desk.
| Index | What It Tracks | Publish Cadence | Coverage | Best Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCFI (Shanghai Containerized Freight Index) | Shanghai export spot rates | Weekly, Friday | 15 lanes, per TEU or FEU | Fastest read on trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe spot movement |
| CCFI (China Containerized Freight Index) | Blended China origin container rates | Monthly, with weekly indicative | Broad China origin basket | Slower moving confirmation for contract heavy lanes |
| WCI (Drewry World Container Index) | Global container spot and short term contract | Weekly, Thursday | 8 major lanes | Second independent read on trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe |
| FBX (Freightos Baltic Index) | Global container spot rates | Daily | 40 plus lanes | Working weekly reference with widest coverage |
| TAC Index | Air cargo per kilogram spot rates | Weekly | Major Asia origin lanes plus trans-Atlantic | Air freight rate rhythm alongside ocean |
A rate update framework decomposes carrier announcements into recurring categories. Grouping GRIs, PSS, and imbalance fees together on the report saves customer analysts from asking clarifying questions and lets the forwarder trend each category over time.
The right cadence for a forwarder rate update report is a Monday morning deliverable that ingests the previous week's index prints and any carrier advisories issued through the weekend. That timing gives sales and operations a full week to act on the update, and it lands in customer inboxes before Monday afternoon booking decisions get made.
The data sources that feed a proper weekly report:
For forwarders running rate updates inside a purpose built system, Rate Management Quoting Software for Forwarders ingests index feeds and carrier advisories into the same rate sheet the sales desk is quoting from, so an SCFI print on Friday updates every trans-Pacific quote issued the following Monday without a manual copy paste from a spreadsheet.
The report that customer analysts actually read follows a stable weekly template. Same sections, same order, same lane groupings, week after week. The template stability is the point. Customers who see the same structure every Monday build the report into their own planning process and stop chasing your rate desk for one off updates.
Two or three sentences of the week's headline. Trans-Pacific up or down, Asia to Europe direction and magnitude, one notable carrier or geopolitical event. Written for a customer who has thirty seconds before their next call.
Shanghai to US West Coast, Shanghai to US East Coast, Shanghai to Chicago via LA. Weekly change in FBX, cross referenced to Friday SCFI. Any GRI or PSS active on the lane. Equipment situation at Shanghai and destination ports.
North Europe to US East Coast, Mediterranean to US East Coast. FBX print with weekly delta. Any active carrier surcharges. Notable service reconfiguration by 2M, Ocean Alliance, THE Alliance, or Gemini.
Shanghai to Rotterdam, Shanghai to Hamburg. WCI plus FBX print. Suez Canal transit conditions or Cape of Good Hope routing implications. Any active PSS or war risk surcharge related to Red Sea.
Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai to Bangkok, Ningbo to Tokyo. FBX print. Regional carrier moves. Cross border trucking rate context for shippers considering multi modal alternatives.
Hong Kong to Frankfurt, Shanghai to Chicago, Hong Kong to Los Angeles. TAC Index print with weekly delta. Belly capacity changes on major passenger routes. Any freighter capacity announcements from Cathay Cargo, Emirates SkyCargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, or Korean Air Cargo.
Blank sailing announcements. GRI or PSS filings for the following month. Alliance restructuring news. Port congestion updates. Geopolitical events with rate implications (Red Sea, Panama Canal water levels, Suez traffic).
One paragraph tying the week's data to a booking recommendation. Push contract if spot is elevated. Pull volume forward if a GRI lands in fourteen days. Consider air freight for time critical inventory if ocean transit reliability drops. This is where the rate report earns its reputation as advisory content rather than a data dump.
The weekly rate report is a customer deliverable and an internal management tool. The internal use cases drive as much value as the customer facing publication.
Every forwarder holds contract allocation with carriers on core lanes. That allocation is a fixed cost. When spot rates run more than 25 percent below contract, drawing more volume through spot preserves margin and protects the customer relationship. When spot rates run more than 25 percent above contract, drawing on contract allocation preserves margin and creates room for the sales team to quote competitively.
The weekly rate report is the trigger for that decision at the lane level. A trans-Pacific spot rate that moved 30 percent below the customer's contract rate over the previous four weeks is the signal to renegotiate the contract at the next quarterly review, or to route the next month's volume through spot.
When Asia to Europe rates via Suez run substantially higher than Cape of Good Hope rates because of Red Sea insurance surcharges, forwarders can save customers real dollars by switching bookings to Cape routing. The weekly rate report is where that decision surfaces. When the report shows a persistent 500 dollar per FEU delta between Suez and Cape routing on the same lane pair, sales can build the alternative into every quote for that customer.
Customers hate rate surprises on invoices. The rate report gives sales the material to reach out to specific customers on specific lanes before the next booking, walking through the current spot direction and the recommended booking timing. That single call turns a potential complaint into a customer service touchpoint that reinforces the advisory relationship.
The rate report is a raw material. The higher value output is the business intelligence layer that sits on top of it. Three reports built on the same rate data infrastructure convert rate reporting overhead into billable value.
For every customer, on every lane the customer moves, calculate the weekly variance between quoted rate and delivered rate. Variance driven by GRI, PSS, or equipment fees is external. Variance driven by mis quoted base rates or missed surcharge line items is internal. Splitting the two lets the operations team tighten quoting discipline where the variance is internal, and lets sales explain external variance to customers with proper context.
For every customer holding a contract allocation, track the percentage of weekly volume drawn from contract versus placed on spot. A customer drawing consistently below 60 percent of contract allocation is at risk of renegotiating a smaller contract at the next renewal, which hurts the carrier relationship the forwarder is holding. A customer running 100 percent through contract on a lane where spot is 25 percent cheaper is paying a preventable premium.
For every customer providing weekly booking forecasts, track forecast volume versus actual booked volume. Systematic under forecasting means the customer is drawing on spot at the last minute and blowing rate budgets. Systematic over forecasting means the forwarder is holding allocation that could be reallocated. Either way, closing the delta creates margin.
For forwarders running these three reports across a customer book, Freight Analytics Software for Forwarders provides the reporting layer that ties variance, capture rate, and forecast accuracy to specific customers and lanes so the account manager arrives at every quarterly review with concrete data instead of anecdote.
The rate update framework only works if the data flows from index publication to customer quote without manual copy paste. Three integration points make or break the workflow.
The rate sheet the sales desk quotes from has to update automatically when a carrier lands a GRI or PSS, and when the weekly index refresh confirms the movement. Manual rate sheet updates carry a lag of days to weeks, which is exactly the window in which unprotected margin evaporates.
Ocean Freight Management Software that treats the rate sheet as a live data structure rather than a spreadsheet lets the operations team push a GRI into the sheet and see every quote issued after that timestamp reflect the new rate without further intervention.
Air freight rate feeds run on a different rhythm than ocean, with per kilogram rates, chargeable weight rules, and a wider range of carrier specific surcharges. Air Freight Management Software that treats air rates as a first class object, not a converted ocean rate structure, keeps the air quoting workflow in sync with the same weekly report rhythm.
The weekly report has to reach customers on a consistent schedule. A rate update mailed on Monday morning at 9 am with the same subject line every week reads as a discipline signal. A rate update mailed sporadically from a sales rep's personal inbox reads as an afterthought. Building the distribution into an automated Monday morning email from a shared rate desk address, with per customer personalization for their lane mix, protects the discipline signal.
Adopting the framework is a change management exercise, not a technology exercise. Three practices carry the framework through the first ninety days:
See how GoFreight helps forwarders ingest freight rate indices, layer them into live rate sheets, and turn weekly rate updates into billable customer intelligence.
Request a GoFreight DemoA freight rate update framework is a repeatable process a freight forwarder uses to track ocean and air freight rate indices, decompose carrier surcharge announcements, publish a weekly rate report to customers, and convert rate volatility into internal business intelligence. It typically covers five indices (SCFI, CCFI, WCI, FBX, TAC), five rate movement categories (GRI, PSS, equipment imbalance, BAF, ad hoc surcharges), and a Monday morning weekly report cadence.
The SCFI (Shanghai Containerized Freight Index) is a spot rate index published every Friday by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. It tracks Shanghai export container spot rates on fifteen trade lanes, quoted in US dollars per TEU or per FEU. It is the highest frequency spot index for the world's largest export origin, which makes it the primary weekly reference for trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe spot rate movement.
SCFI publishes Friday and covers Shanghai export lanes across fifteen destinations. WCI publishes Thursday and covers eight major global lanes with both spot and short term contract rates. FBX publishes daily and covers 40 plus lanes globally including intra-Asia routes that SCFI and WCI do not track well. Most forwarders lead with FBX for coverage breadth and cross reference SCFI and WCI on trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe for triangulation.
The industry standard is weekly, delivered Monday morning after ingesting Friday SCFI, Thursday WCI, and the previous week of FBX prints. Customers use the Monday report to plan the week's bookings before making commitments. Reporting less frequently than weekly makes the report a look back rather than a decision tool. Reporting daily overloads customer analysts unless a specific lane is in acute volatility.
Five source categories: index feeds (SCFI from Shanghai Shipping Exchange, WCI from Drewry, FBX from Freightos, TAC Index for air), carrier advisories (MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, COSCO customer advisory pages), trade press (The Loadstar, Journal of Commerce, Splash 247, Alphaliner), port and canal operational status (Los Angeles, Long Beach, Suez, Panama), and internal booking data from the forwarder's own operations for context on customer specific lane mix.
A GRI (General Rate Increase) is a carrier announced increase to the base ocean freight rate on a specific lane, effective on a specific date, typically the first or fifteenth of a month. Track GRIs by monitoring carrier customer advisory pages for MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, and ONE, then checking the SCFI print in the two weeks after the announcement to see how much of the announced increase actually stuck in the spot market. Announcement absorption is often 30 to 70 percent, not 100 percent.
Contract rates are negotiated between shipper and carrier or forwarder for a set period, typically annual on trans-Pacific and Asia to Europe, with committed volume in exchange for capacity guarantees. Spot rates are the current market clearing price for freight capacity, published in indices like SCFI, WCI, and FBX. Contract rates are usually more stable than spot; spot rates react faster to demand or capacity shocks. Sophisticated shippers hold a contract base and move incremental volume to spot when spot is cheaper.
A common rule of thumb is a 25 percent delta rule: when spot rates on a lane run more than 25 percent below the customer's contract rate for four consecutive weeks, it is time to draw incremental volume through spot rather than contract, and to raise a contract renegotiation at the next quarterly review. When spot rates run more than 25 percent above contract, protect the contract allocation and use it for the customer's committed volume.
A standard weekly rate report contains eight sections: executive summary (two or three sentences), trans-Pacific lanes with FBX and SCFI reference, trans-Atlantic lanes, Asia to Europe with WCI and Suez routing context, intra-Asia, air freight with TAC Index reference, notable carrier moves and geopolitical context, and this week's recommendation for customers. Same sections, same order, same lane groupings every week for cadence discipline.
Air freight rates are tracked by the TAC Index, quoted per kilogram of chargeable weight rather than per TEU or per FEU. Air rates react faster to capacity changes because passenger belly capacity floats with airline network decisions, and freighter capacity is finite. Ocean rates react to demand cycles with a lag of weeks. In a well built weekly rate report, TAC Index sits alongside the ocean indices so customers can compare mode substitution economics on time critical lanes.
Three internal reports convert rate reporting into revenue: rate variance per customer per lane (tightens quoting discipline where variance is internal), contract versus spot capture rate (protects carrier relationships and identifies mis sized contracts), and forecast versus actual delta (closes gap between customer projections and actual bookings). All three build on the same weekly rate data feed, so the incremental cost of the intelligence layer is low once the rate infrastructure exists.
Yes, and this is where the framework compounds. Rate management software ingests index feeds and carrier advisories into a live rate sheet, so the operations team pushes a GRI announcement or a Friday SCFI print into the sheet and every quote issued after that timestamp reflects the new rate. The same rate sheet feeds the weekly customer report, the internal variance analysis, and the contract versus spot capture rate report. Manual rate sheet updates carry a lag of days that erodes margin on every quote issued in the interval.
Start with three moves in the first ninety days. First, subscribe to FBX and Drewry WCI and set a Monday morning calendar hold for the analyst who will own the weekly synthesis. Second, build the report template with eight fixed sections and publish the first two reports internally before distributing to customers. Third, add one carrier advisory tracker (MSC or Maersk to start) and one internal report (rate variance per customer per lane) after the weekly cadence is stable. Layering more indices, more carriers, and more intelligence reports comes after the base cadence is disciplined.