Methodology · CSA Procurement

Plan & Procure modules. Stacked rules.
One operating system.

The depth behind every CSA rate book. Six modules turn raw demand into awarded contracts. Six more turn contracts into live allocations and bookable shipments. Eight stacked rules optimise the award.

Back to Procurement overview

Phase 01 · Procure

Procure.

Six modules that turn raw demand into awarded contracts — carrier-neutral, multi-round, with credible target rates and clean bid data.

Procure · Module 01

Volume Baseline & Rate Scope

The data foundation for every rate negotiation.

We build the volume baseline your carriers will price — by trade lane, container type, origin and destination — using historical lifts, sales forecasts and supplier inputs. Clean volume data is what turns a carrier quote into a credible, defendable rate.

What you get

Lane-level annual volume baseline (TEU, FFE, 20'/40'/HC)
Origin/destination heatmap with seasonality curves
Supplier and BU contribution per lane
Forecast variance tracker vs awarded rate volumes

Typical outcome

+12%

Forecast accuracy improvement

Phase 02 · Plan

Plan.

Six modules that turn awarded contracts into live allocations, rolling forecasts and bookable shipments — week after week.

Plan · Module 01

Rolling Forecasts

13-week views that carriers actually trust.

Weekly rolling forecasts published to each carrier we hold rates with — by lane, container type and week — so the rates we negotiated stay backed by real volume and equipment is positioned where it's needed.

What you get

13-week rolling forecast per carrier
Lane- and container-type granularity
Variance tracking vs actual bookings
Discontinued/new-lane treatment rules

Typical outcome

weekly

Refresh cadence across all carriers

Scenario optimisation

Eight stacked rules.
One smarter award.

We compare scenarios side-by-side so you can trade off cost, capacity, transit time, resilience and concentration risk before signing the awards.

Lowest cost

Pure cheapest bid per lane — ignores capacity commitments.

+ Capacity

Caps awards at each carrier's committed capacity.

+ Transit time & direct service

Penalises slow or trans-shipment routes.

+ Service frequency

Weighs weekly sailing frequency on the lane.

+ 20'/40' equipment rule

Keeps 20' and 40' awards consistent per carrier.

+ Service resilience

Diversifies risk across multiple carriers per lane.

+ Carrier alliance cap

Caps share by alliance (2M, Gemini, OA) to limit concentration risk.

+ NVOCC balancing

Prevents NVOCCs from being awarded full lane volume.

Talk to procurement

Tell us what you ship.
We'll make it happen.

Send us your top trade lanes and typical volumes — an experienced operator will come back with a benchmarked rate, a clear view of how we'd run the work, and a straight answer on which procurement mode fits.

Plan & Procure modules. Stacked rules.One operating system.