A poll carried out during a Xeneta industry webinar has revealed 6 in 10 businesses have changed their approach to ocean freight tendering in 2025.
The webinar was hosted by Emily Stausbøll, Senior Shipping Analyst, and Thorsten Diephaus, VP Strategic Alliance, to discuss whether traditional tender strategies are still fit for purpose in a global market impacted by massive geo-political and economic uncertainty.
12% of those taking part in the survey said they have completely changed tendering approach this year, with a further 48% stating they have made a partial change.
Diephaus said: “When I look at the good old tender strategy from the last two decades, the time has come to throw it away, make it different and adapt it to the new reality.”
Diephaus highlighted the market turmoil since the beginning of 2024, primarily due to conflict in the Red Sea. For example, long term rates on the trade from the Far East to North Europe remain up more than 50% since 1 January 2024.
He said: “Shipping has always been volatile, but with these massive price movements the question is, does it make sense to agree a 12-month rate for every trade and every volume? or do we need to be more flexible?
“What is right strategy? People need to answer that for themselves, but you need to be close to the market and define a strategy that suits you best.”
One of the new strategies being adopted across the industry is index-linked contracts, which track the market against rules agreed between the freight buyer and seller.
The case for this type of contract has become more compelling due to the situation in the Red Sea. If a lasting ceasefire sees a largescale return of container ships to the region, it could see spot rates – and therefore also long term rates – collapse in 2025.
However, the situation is the Middle East remains far from certain.
Stausbøll told the webinar: “When I’m talking to customers and we get on to indexing, we’re seeing interest increase on the shipper, freight forwarder and carrier side.
“We have seen in the poll results that not everybody can do it or maybe it’s just for one or two trades, but it’s definitely something that’s getting traction in the market.
“It is then the data underlying it that’s going to be important. You need that solid data, and then you can figure out the mechanism, when it gets adjusted, what it gets adjusted to, and whether I have a floor and ceiling to limit my problems.
“You can’t prepare for everything, you don’t know what’s coming next, but you can make your supply chains that little bit more robust and that little bit more reliable when things go wrong.”
You can watch the full webinar on demand on the Xeneta website here.
