A freight rate is a negotiated price for shipping a container from one part of the world to another.Freight rates that are tied to contracts have a validity period that depends on the contract length — short-term (less than 32 days) or long-term (more than 87 days).Rates and Trade LanesFreight rates are tied to specific trade lanes, or routes from an origin port to a destination port on which freight is shipped.Because of the complexity of port to port shipping logistics, a freight rate will sometimes include multiple smaller ports as part of a larger route. The costs of moving cargo between smaller and larger ports is often included in the final freight rate.Rates and SurchargesFreight rates are typically associated with a number of surcharges.Surcharges are additional fees charged by the parties involved in the logistics chain and can include:Loading and unloading cargoProcessing of cargo documentationProviding cargo securityAnd many moreMany surcharges are common to all service providers: fuel fees, documentation fees, and piracy fees. Other surcharges vary based on the carrier, port, world events, and seasons.A common surcharge applied to cargo based on the location of the port is the terminal handling charge, which is a fee paid for handling and moving cargo at the port of origin and destination.Our Surcharges add-on provides a detailed breakdown of Fuel, Congestion, and Peak Season surcharges on the largest global trade lanes.The rates you see in Xeneta already some of the most common surcharges.Rates and AggregationA single rate by itself will not say very much about the current state of the freight market.That's why Xeneta offers insight into the freight rate market by collecting thousands of rates from hundreds of market players, including shippers (or BCOs) and freight forwarders.Xeneta anonymizes and aggregates the collected rate data, and then calculates their average values for individual trade lanes to provide you with a clear view of what the market rates as a whole are like on any given trade lane.Rates and BenchmarkingSince Xeneta offers aggregated average values that show a high-level view of the ocean freight rates, these values can be used to see how your own rates stack up against the broader market.Xeneta provides five market positions that help illustrate different rate segments of the market, allowing you can benchmark (or compare) your rates against the market average, as well as against the best and worst performers across the entire spread of the market.Global CoverageXeneta receives freight rates from customers engaged in trade all over the world.When there's not enough rate data available for a specific origin-destination pair, Xeneta uses regional aggregation based on our geo-hierarchy methodology to show rates between larger geographic regions.In cases where there's simply not enough container traffic on a given trade lane, Xeneta can calculate an estimated rate to provide a close approximation of what an actual rate on that origin-destination pair might be like.