Because of changing market circumstances, the transport markets for the various transport modes with shippers as customers and carriers as suppliers are shifting quickly from a buyers’ market to a sellers’ market. In a buyers’ market shippers can select carriers based on price and service and save on transportation costs. In a sellers’ market shippers are competing with other shippers for scarce capacity. This is currently driving up the prices and creates the possibility for carriers to be more selective when agreeing on contracts with shippers or bidding on individual shipments at the spot markets.
This shift to a sellers’ market will potentially also have impact on non-financial terms & conditions like the way of working regarding spot quotations, bookings, appointment scheduling, providing status info, issue resolution and invoice disputes since carriers will address possibilities to reduce their costs in these areas too (see table below for more examples).
A partnership approach will help shippers and logistic service providers to work together to find the right balance of their individual and shared interests.
