Global Forwarding Insights

Stay up to date with market changes that impact air and ocean capacity at the trade lane level—everything you need to navigate global shipping.

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How will the latest trade lane conditions affect your ocean and air shipping decisions?

Use our industry-leading expertise and monthly trade lane insights to navigate global shipping and plan for changing market conditions.

  • Stay up to date about rapid shifts in ocean and air capacity
  • Maintain flexibility and adapt to potential disruptions
  • Access additional resources including client advisories & blogs

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Ocean & Air Freight Market Updates

Use these insights to accurately forecast how capacity changes and trends impact your business. Create customized, shareable reports by adding your preferred trade lanes. Check back each month for the latest updates in the lanes you care about.

Market status key:
Stable
Strained
Critical

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Global Client Advisories

Uncover new opportunities for growth by confronting disruptions.

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Receive notices on changing market conditions when they happen.

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Global Forwarding News

Read the latest ocean and air shipping news directly from our experts.

Overcoming the 5 Supply Chain Barriers that Threaten the Growth of Renewable Energy
Blog

Overcoming the 5 Supply Chain Barriers that Threaten the Growth of Renewable Energy

June 28, 2021 | 12:21 PM EST
Read more >
Yantian Port Congestion: How Can Shippers Navigate Another Major Supply Chain Disruption?
Blog

Yantian Port Congestion: How Can Shippers Navigate Another Major Supply Chain Disruption?

June 18, 2021 | 5:47 PM EST
Read more >
Understanding Your Role in Forced Labor Compliance
Blog

Understanding Your Role in Forced Labor Compliance

June 3, 2021 | 6:58 AM EST
Read more >

Global Forwarding FAQs

Q: What are C.H. Robinson's definitions of ‘stable,’ ‘strained,’ and ‘critical’?

Stable: Green – Relatively open capacity and low spot market rates
Strained: Yellow – Capacity is tight and mid-level spot market rates
Critical: Red – Backlog of capacity and high spot market rates

Q: What do the terms and acronyms commonly used in market updates mean?

  • Blank sailings – Blank sailings occur when a carrier has removed a vessel rotation from a given service string. This results in one week where there is no vessel sailing offered at the ports called on that particular service string.

  • CY – Container Yard. A location where containers are stored temporarily during transit. It can be a port terminal, rail terminal, or trucker’s yard.

  • Extra loader – An extra loader is a vessel that an ocean carrier has added to a service string to increase capacity in the short term. This vessel would not be part of the standard vessel rotation on that service string. It would be removed as soon as it is no longer required to meet excess demand.

  • FEU – Forty Foot Equivalent Unit. The forty foot represents a 40′ container.

  • GRI – General Rate Increase. This is one of the mechanisms ocean carriers can increase rates for ocean transport on a particular trade.

  • IPI – Interior Point Intermodal. Also known as rail ramps, these are inland points to/from which carriers can offer service on a through bill of lading.

  • PSS – Peak Season Surcharge. This surcharge is typically applied by ocean carriers during the peak shipping period on a given trade lane, where vessel space is either fully utilized or overbooked.

  • Roll/roll pools – A “roll“ happens when a container booked on a given sailing/vessel is transferred by the steamship line to the following vessel serving the requested lane. A “roll pool” is created when a steamship line plans for a large number of containers to roll from one vessel to another.

  • SSL – Steamship line or ocean carrier

  • Steamship line alliance – Alliances occur when a group of steamship lines share vessel space on their service strings and manage services in agreement with each other. There are currently three steamship line alliances on the main east-west trades: the Ocean Alliance, 2M Alliance, and The Alliance.

  • TEU – Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit. The twenty foot represents a 20′ container.

  • Transshipment – This service offered transports cargo in two legs on two different vessels. The first vessel brings the container from the port of origin to the port of transshipment. The second vessel brings the container from the port of transshipment to the final destination port.

  • VSA – Vessel Sharing Agreement. This is an agreement between steamship lines to share slots (space) on a service string or vessel.