Overview
Getting the right price on a long-term contract means accounting for potential change in market conditions between negotiation and the time that the freight is tendered, which often requires brokers to manually integrate several different data sources or simply rely on instinct and guesswork.
The Long Term Batch Rates feature is a product extension that can accurately forecast rates up to 12 months ahead. We put an ensemble of AI models to work analyzing data from your brokerage and the freight market, including both lane-specific and market-wide trends. This feature is another effective way to incorporate data-based insights into your pricing strategy.
For more information, contact your Customer Success Manager or schedule a demo.
How it Works
Long-Term Batch Rate forecasting works through a CSV-based interface. This allows you to tailor output by including various data points (historic data, market predictions, volume metrics, etc.) Multiple AI models analyze your uploaded data and data from the greater market to provide a reliable batch forecast without sacrificing performance. The number of lanes is limited only by the size of the CSV, which should be under 1000 MB.
When you upload your CSV file, the system will analyze it, generate an output CSV, and email the results to you. The output file includes:
All the original input data
Predictions for the contract start month and subsequent monthly predictions for the next 12 months
Market Rates for the start month and the next 12 months.
Requesting Long Term Batch Rates
Start with an RFP from the shipper. These lanes will form the basis for preparing competitive quotes. The RFP should include:
A large number of lanes, each representing a potential contract
Details on freight volumes for each lane over a specified time period.
Preparing your CSV
Open the template and edit it to include the headers you need, such as notes or commodity data.
Paste the data from the RFP into the template.
Configuration Options for Historic Data
To customize your output options:
Click Output configuration:
Select your preferred options. For historical data:
Historic Actuals displays averages for the previous 12 months only for lanes with available historical data. If no data exists for a lane, this section remains blank.
Historic Predicted generates records for every lane, whether or not historical data is present. This means the model shows what it would have predicted for the rate. This option allows you to analyze trends whether or not actual data is available.
Click Save.
These options will remain in place for all of your long term batch predictions until you change them.
Uploading your CSV
To upload your CSV for long-term batch rates:
Go to the Batch tab.
Select Long Term.
Click to upload or drag your CSV to the upload window.
That's it! Your results will be available for download on the Batch tab as soon as your predictions are ready.
Customizing your Results
You can edit and customize the output file to fit your RFP process by recalculating or reformatting for optimal rates. When you’ve edited the results as needed, copy them into the original RFP. This is your rate proposal for the shipper.