How Many Containers is a lot for Steamship line Sales?

In the shipping industry, shipping containers are a numbers game. Every year shipping companies renew their service contracts with steamship lines and hope to get better pricing. Maybe they had a higher volume last year or maybe they are shipping from different ports. Not everyone gets the same ocean freight rates to and from the same ports. Some companies think that they are a high volume shipper, when in reality they may be the lower than most. No one wants to think they are a small fish in the big pond.

So then people wonder how many containers their company needs to ship in order to get the high volume rates.  This is easy enough to find out if you are not looking for a special rate for your cargo. Tariffs are published and open to the public as part of the maritime laws. You can find out what other companies are paying but there may be a lot of details in their contracts. Shipping lines do not make it easy on these companies since it is all about money. They need to fill their ships at a rate that will cover the expenses of running the ship. Still they want to be able to give their biggest customers the best incentives for shipping with them.

If you are shipping thousands of containers per year, you can expect much better rates than if you are shipping a few hundred containers per year. If you are looking for lower volumes with no restrictions, you will be paying higher freight rates. It is that simple. Speak with a freight forwarder for more details.