Freight rates change depending on supply and demand with what’s known as a General Rate Increase, or GRI.
And while you might expect the amount quoted to be the final price, because of the way the freight industry works, in certain circumstances, that isn’t the case.
Every quote published on Freightos.com includes an expiration date, which appears on the result tile. A quote is binding and may not be changed as long as cargo is loaded or gated-in to port within the validity period as stated on the quote.
If a shipment isn’t loaded or brought to the origin port before the expiration date, or Gate-in validity date of the quote, the shipment may be subject to a rate adjustment. This is true even if the delay is beyond your control - and beyond the control of the freight forwarder.
This can happen at any time, but there is more chance of it happening during peak season and periods of high demand. That’s because when demand is high, there’s tremendous competition for space. Consequently, forwarders can’t always secure their booking on a planned sailing and your freight quotes might expire - even if you did everything possible to make sure your goods were gated-in on time and you may be asked to pay more because your quote is affected by a GRI.
As well as limited capacity, your shipment could also face delays because of a lack of containers. In other words, even if your goods are ready to go, there is no way of transporting them.
Another cause of delays is congestion at key ports. When this happens, ships are unable to unload and then pick up their next loads. Sometimes, companies are missing out ports altogether to get their ships back on schedule - leaving forwarders unable to move goods as promised.
In such cases, any Seller on Freightos.com will reach out to you and let you know about the increased rate. They must also prove that the delays to the shipment are beyond their control by providing documentation from the carrier.
If this happens, you can either pay the increased rate or cancel the shipment.
Learn more in the Freightos.com Standard Operating Procedure.