By Artem Korsakov ·
Theoretical example. An importer requests a forwarder to deliver one 40-foot container from Shanghai to a warehouse in the Moscow region. The forwarder collects three quotes: $6,200 by sea via Vladivostok and then rail, $5,400 by sea to St. Petersburg, and $7,300 by rail via Zabaykalsk. The cheapest option takes 25 days longer. The first quote does not account for storage in Vladivostok and truck delivery from the station; the third is valid until Friday. The figures are hypothetical, but differences in cost structure are typical: final sums cannot be directly compared.
A comparison requires a registry of proposals: what is included in each, until what date it is valid, and what is excluded.
A Rate Without a Task Does Not Provide a Reliable Basis for Comparison
First, fix exactly what needs to be transported. For the request, pickup and delivery locations, readiness dates, number of pieces, weight, volume, packaging, and special conditions may be material. The level of detail depends on the mode of transport and the nature of the goods. If a participant received different source information, their proposal must be marked as requiring clarification.
The task should have a version. If additional space appeared, or the date or warehouse address changed, then the previous rate may no longer correspond to the request. The system preserves the original request and shows which proposals require re-confirmation. Simple editing of a card without history hides the reason for price changes.
Hypothetical example: one agent calculated delivery to the terminal, another to the client's warehouse. The second quote is higher, but it includes an additional segment. In comparison, the service composition must be separated and the missing cost of the first option clarified. Until there is an answer, the final result of the first quote is marked as incomplete: whether it is more advantageous or not is still unknown.
Break Down Proposals into Identical Blocks
For the selected scheme, you can identify pickup, handling at origin, main transport, transshipment, handling at destination, and delivery. Agent services, forwarding, and other agreed items are considered alongside. Not all blocks are present in every shipment. The structure should be agreed upon with the logistics specialist who actually procures these services.
For each item, preserve:
- service provider and route segment;
- sum, currency, and unit of charge;
- included operations and explicit exclusions;
- taxes and rules for their display in the proposal;
- validity period and confirmation conditions;
- file or letter with the initial calculation.
Separate units of charge are especially important. A rate per container differs from the sum for a shipment or ton. If there is a minimum charge, rounding, or weight threshold, this must be visible. One should not automatically convert any tariff into a single sum until calculation rules are described and verified.
Currency, Date, and Rate Must Be Reproducible
International shipments may involve multiple currencies. For management comparison, it is convenient to choose a display currency, but original sums are preserved. Alongside, specify the rate date, its source, and purpose: this is an estimate for comparison, a condition of a specific proposal, or the actual calculation rate. These values do not always match.
If the sum depends on a future exchange rate, show the condition and uncertainty. A rate from a public source does not necessarily equal the bank or contract rate. Payment and conversion commissions should also not be automatically included. Their presence and assessment order are determined by the specific calculation scheme.
It is useful to save a snapshot of the agreed calculation. Then an employee can explain why the client was shown exactly that sum and what conditions were in effect at that time. Recalculation by today's rate should not silently overwrite an already sent proposal. A new version requires separate designation and, if necessary, re-confirmation.
Validity Period and Space Availability Are Checked Separately
A proposal is valid until a certain date or upon fulfillment of conditions specified by the provider. A price does not always mean a confirmed booking or guaranteed shipment. The interface needs separate states: rate received, conditions clarified, option agreed, booking confirmed. Which document serves as confirmation is determined by your workflow.
Conditions change even after choosing a route. Shifting cargo readiness, changing equipment, or additional processing may require a new calculation. The system helps preserve the basis, request a decision, and show the impact on the budget. It should not automatically agree with any incoming invoice just because it relates to an existing shipment.
Demurrage, Detention, and Storage: Not a Single Line Item for 'Delay'
Names and assessment order are checked against the specific line, terminal, and contract. Usually, demurrage is charged per container at the terminal beyond free days, detention for containers outside the terminal, and storage for storage on the yard. Some lines calculate a combined period of demurrage and detention. How many free days and what rate are specified in the line conditions and booking confirmation.
Store the type of charge, object, start and end of the period, agreed free time, source of rules, and confirmed events in the card. One cannot assume that free days for the terminal and container always coincide. The order of accounting for calendar or working days, weekends, and specific exceptions must be taken from applicable conditions.
The first product can remind about the control date and show approximate risk. Automatic invoicing is permissible only after describing and verifying a specific algorithm. Until then, a warning 'period requires verification' is more useful than an incorrect count. For dispute resolution, preserve confirmation of unloading, pickup, and equipment return if they relate to the selected charge.
Separate Transport Budget from Total Import Cost
A shipping invoice does not equal the total cost of acquiring and importing goods. A separate calculation may account for the cost of goods, insurance, customs duties, and other elements. Their composition and basis require professional verification. A small rate comparison service should not silently turn into a universal foreign economic activity calculator.
Contract terms also affect the distribution of costs between parties. The Incoterms term is fixed along with the location and edition. As explained in an article published by ICC Academy, rules do not determine the transfer of ownership and are not a contract of carriage. The team must understand which costs are included in its commercial proposal and which are paid by the other party. In case of ambiguity, the system creates a question for agreement. It does not interpret contracts on its own.
How to Agree on Additional Charges
An additional charge must have a reason, provider, sum, currency, document, and responsible decision-maker. It is important to distinguish between an estimate of a possible charge, an agreed obligation, and an actual invoice. If they are combined into one field, the budget forecast will be either overstated or incomplete.
Define approval rights in advance. For example, a logistics specialist collects justification, a manager approves internal expenses, and the client confirms changes to commercial conditions when required by contract. The route is provided as an example; each company determines the approval order itself. Urgent exceptions must also leave a trace: who authorized the action, when, and on what basis.
Store internal procurement rates, margin, and customer prices with different permissions. Exporting a proposal to a client must be checked separately from the internal report. Protecting commercial data is especially important when the product has guest accounts for agents and carriers.
AI for the 'Included and Excluded' Matrix
Practical input: several emails with rates and attached tables in different languages. The model extracts the segment, sum, currency, unit, validity period, and exclusions. The verified output represents comparison rows with links to source fragments. A logistics specialist confirms the values, requests missing items, and only then forms a proposal for the client.
Hypothetical example: 'USD 2,400 per container, destination charges excluded'. Result: $2,400 per container, destination charges excluded, total is incomplete. The model does not add them based on average market estimates. If the validity period is missing, a question to the provider appears. An approved calculation is transferred to the active forwarder system; an unconfirmed copy is not kept by the service.
First, Use Existing Rate Accounting
First, check what your rate accounting already does: TMS, 1C (a Russian accounting and ERP platform), or a spreadsheet. With accounting in 1C or Excel, you can start with an agreed upload form. A custom tool is justified for emails that no one reviews and for non-standard exceptions.
Compare the Total Sum on One Task
Hypothetical example in one currency: Quote A includes a main segment for $2,400 and handling at origin for $150, but destination charges are excluded. Quote B totals $2,900 with handling included at both ends. Until destination is clarified, Quote A's sum equals '$2,550 plus an unknown part'. There is no price for total delivery in it yet. If the missing item is confirmed as $400, Quote A's comparable sum becomes $2,950. These are educational numbers, not market rates.
Even after this, check identical dates, equipment, free periods, and delivery composition. The choice is fixed along with the reason: price, term, or other agreed condition. AI helps find excluded lines, but the total is calculated by standard formulas only after verification by a logistics specialist.
Подпись: Illustrative example in one currency. Without destination charges, A looks cheaper. After clarification, A costs $2,950, B is $2,900. Bars on a single scale.
What to Include in the First Pilot
Start with one type of shipment and several familiar providers. Agree on the request form, comparison blocks, and versioning rules. Add email upload, manual verification of figures, and proposal export. Historical calculations will be useful for verification but cannot automatically be considered current rates.
Check scenarios: different currencies, incomplete composition, expired proposal, task change, additional charge, and disputed assessment. Measure the time to prepare a comparable table, the number of clarification requests, and the share of charges with preserved basis. Savings on transport procurement are evaluated separately considering routes and the market; promising it in advance is not possible.
Next Step
Specific tariffs are not provided in the article: they depend on the line, port, and contract. How rates change over time and when to recalculate an RFQ is discussed in the article on International Freight Rate Forecast (Russian).
To evaluate the service, an anonymized task and several quotes received for it are needed. Rate comparison for transport will be the first module. Additional logistics charges can be accounted for with a separate approval queue preserving the basis.
Related reading: International Shipment Budget: Forecast of Expenses and Margin in Transit; Supplier Quote Comparison with AI for Construction Supply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we make a price calculator on the site immediately?
Yes, if there are verified tariffs and clear limitations. For individual international shipments, it is more reasonable to first collect request parameters and show the calculation after verification. An approximate estimate must be clearly distinguished from a confirmed proposal.
Can AI break down rates from emails?
Yes, as a draft. A person checks currencies, exclusions, units of charge, and validity period before including the proposal in a comparison.