One of the widely available freight rate sources is published
annually by Containerisation International (CI) which provides
rates every quarter for the major trade lanes (see Fig. 2) and revealsto the forwarders are revised usually every quarter, which allows
the carriers to adjust the rates in response to market conditions.
In fact the rates may be adjusted during the contract period, but
only in cases where the rates are lowered. For the company whose
rates we employ increases are incorporated in the new tariff grid
established every 3 months, from January to March, from April to
June, from July to September, and from October to December.
Within the rate grids for forwarders there are various classes,
based on volumes, with the very largest forwarders being allocated
personalized special rates. For the shippers, however, rates are
fixed for 12 month periods, typically. Terms of volume commitment
exist only in American contracts, but penalties are not imposed
for lower performance. It is only when the US contracts
come up for renewal that volume discounts may be adjusted lower
where previous performance levels were not met. Despite the differences
in rate fixing periods between forwarders and shippers
the sample of actual rates used in this study were consistent for
each group of client (see below).