Freight Calculator : Sea & Ocean Shipping Cost & Rates

GFI stands for GoComet Freight Index. It is a shipping freight index that helps you benchmark freight rates for major ports across the world.

1. GoComet Freight Cost Calculator calculates freight rates by considering over 25,000 quotes submitted on the GoComet platform every month by more than 4,000 vendors from across the world. These are actual quotes for bookings made by shippers across the globe.
2. To estimate freight shipping costs, the system considers the top-rated and lowest quoting vendors on each route. Then, it runs machine learning algorithms to create the ocean freight index for a particular shipment. The proprietary algorithms are similar to those used by the World Container Freight Index and Shanghai Freight Index.

GoComet’s freight index calculator factors in real time bidding data from it’s own freight procurement platform by analysing top rated vendors on multiple routes and factors in market data through a proprietary machine learning algorithm that outputs the current market average rate for the given port pair.

Ocean freight can be broken down into a base charge and multiple add-on charges. The base can vary depending on the nature of the shipment. In FCL the base charge would be a flat fee on the type of container in transit like 20 feet container, 40 feet container, etc. In case of LCL the cost is decided based on the whichever is greater between the weight of the cargo per 1000kgs or it’s volume per 1 cubic meter, known as weight or measure(w/m).

Ocean freight charges include the per unit cost of the containers being transported in case of FCL or the cost of the weight or volume as per W/M measure of cargo in case of LCL. These charges are then amended by certain fixed and variable charges like Environmental Fuel Charges, General Rate Increase Charges, Peak Season Surcharge, Low Sulphur Surcharge, etc.

Yes, GoComet Freight Index is a free website which aggregates best international freight market rates for a particular lane instantly. These are real-time rates offered by vendors on GoComet Platform. Shippers can also refer to alternate sources like Freightos' Baltic Index and Shanghai Containerized Freight Index to get some idea on the current market trends too.

Major Carriers like MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag Lloyd, OOCL and more alike also have online portals where shippers can check the freight booking costs but this is only specific to that carrier and not the market's average rate offered by multiple vendors.

GFI has proved to be of immense help to our customers. They have been using it regularly to benchmark rates, and it has enabled them to show their management that they are getting the best possible prices for all shipments and negotiating with a substantial number of vendors.

To extend this benefit to the broader community, GoComet decided to make GFI publicly available.

GoComet uses both spot as well as contract rates to calculate GFI.

There is a considerable difference between the rates of 20’ and 40’ containers. The prices of 40’ containers aren’t necessarily twice that of 20’ containers. Hence, for clarity, it is crucial to mention the costs of the two container types separately.