An ocean RFP done well saves six-figure sums on mid-market volume and builds the relationships that carry a brand through the next disruption. An ocean RFP done badly gets chased on the lowest line, wins a headline rate the carrier never intended to honour, and unravels the first time space tightens. The difference is preparation, the right invitation list, and a scoring sheet that rewards the things that actually matter.
When to run one
Three moments typically trigger an ocean RFP. The first is the annual cycle: rates under a 12-month contract come up for renewal between January and April for trans-Pacific eastbound, and between March and May for most Asia–Europe trades. The second is post-disruption: after a capacity shock, a blank-sailing run, or a strike, incumbent carriers often hold rates higher than the market corrects to, and a fresh RFP realigns them. The third is growth: when volume crosses roughly 200 FEU per year on a single lane, a directly-contracted carrier position starts to price meaningfully better than the NVOCC rate you have been paying.
If none of those apply, an RFP is usually not the highest-leverage thing to spend the team's time on. A well-run quarterly benchmarking call with the current forwarder and one alternate will catch the obvious gaps for a fraction of the work.
Before you write anything: the data you need
Carriers will quote what you give them. If the input is thin, the output will be generic rates built for safety rather than for your lane. Before the document leaves your desk, assemble:
- Twelve months of shipment history by lane (origin port, destination port, container type, teu/feu counts, month-by-month). Eighteen months is better if you have the data.
- Commodity mix by HS code or commercial description, with any DG, reefer, OOG or high-value callouts. Carriers price risk, not tonnage.
- Seasonality profile — which months are peaks, which months are troughs, what the peak-to-trough ratio looks like on your heaviest lane.
- Door or port scope — pure port-to-port, origin door, destination door, or full door-to-door. Break out drayage, pre-pull, storage windows, chassis preferences if known.
- Payment terms and your preferred invoicing cadence.
- Any service commitments you are willing to make — minimum quantity commitments (MQCs), MVCs, or a truly named forecast that the carrier can rely on.
That last item matters. Without an MQC or MVC, your RFP is effectively a spot auction with a 12-month wrapper, and carriers will price it that way.
The RFP document
Keep the document tight enough that a sales desk can turn it around in two weeks. The essentials:
- Lane table with one row per lane, volumes by month, and the commercial basis requested (all-in to named port, or broken out).
- Service window expectations — transit-time bands you can live with, not absolute minima.
- Surcharge handling — explicit request that BAF, LSS, GRI, PSS, ERS and any peak-season surcharges be itemised, and a clear policy on how they will be adjusted mid-contract.
- Equipment: standard, high-cube, reefer, flat rack, open-top — by lane if mix varies.
- Performance metrics you will track (on-time performance, rolled volume, data quality on milestone feeds, invoice accuracy).
- Compliance asks (anti-bribery, sanctions screening, ESG reporting, CO2-per-TEU).
- Incumbent context — it is fair to disclose that this is a renewal and to name the number of responding carriers.
Who to invite
A healthy trans-Pacific RFP has four to seven carrier-side respondents. Below four, you are negotiating in a vacuum. Above seven, the analysis burden explodes and the depth of each conversation thins. A typical mid-market invitation list looks like this:
- Two or three top-ten ocean carriers with a direct BCO programme (Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, ONE, Hapag, Evergreen, COSCO, Yang Ming, HMM, ZIM).
- One or two global forwarders or digital forwarders with consolidation depth on your lane.
- One NVOCC or regional specialist with relevant trade expertise.
- The incumbent, always — both for comparison and because losing the account is a signal they will respond to even if they keep it.
Scoring — a working sheet
The right scoring framework makes price important without making it everything. Price-only RFPs routinely award to a carrier that cannot actually hold space at the promised rate, which surfaces as rolled cargo in September. A weighted sheet like this one is a reasonable starting point for mid-market trans-Pacific:
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Lane-weighted all-in rate | 40% — apply the carrier's bid to your actual 12-month lane mix to get a single blended number per carrier, not a rate sheet comparison. |
| Service & capacity commitment | 20% — named capacity by month, MQC/MVC logic, rolled-cargo policy, and the carrier's posture on peak season. |
| Transit-time reliability | 15% — published schedule plus last-twelve-months on-time performance on the requested string, pulled from a third-party feed where possible. |
| Surcharge discipline | 10% — itemised surcharges, published adjustment methodology, and a track record of honouring the methodology rather than repricing ad-hoc. |
| Data & visibility | 10% — API or EDI for bookings and milestones, event granularity (at least 20 milestones per container), exception push, document delivery. |
| Relationship fit | 5% — is there a named rep, is there escalation coverage when the rep is off, does the carrier understand your commodity. |
Sample — illustrative Weights above are a reasonable starting point for a mid-market trans-Pacific RFP; tune to your own lane mix and risk tolerance.
Common mistakes on round one
- Chasing the headline all-in rate. The lowest line routinely comes from a carrier with the tightest space. Apply the bid to your real monthly volumes and read the MQC language before you celebrate.
- Not reading the surcharge clause. If the contract says "surcharges adjustable at carrier's reasonable discretion" without a methodology, you have signed a variable-rate contract with a fixed-rate headline.
- Ignoring empty-return, detention and demurrage terms. A carrier that bids aggressive main-line rates and then prices ancillaries at the ceiling can wipe the saving out on a slow inland run.
- Not naming an incumbent protection. If you plan to honour a short-list with your incumbent for relationship reasons, say so in the RFP — it saves wasted prep on the other side.
- Treating spot and contract as either-or. A healthy programme usually runs 70–80% contract and holds 20–30% on a spot or index-linked book for flexibility. Say so.
Awarding & implementation
Award in writing, with a named contract number, a start date, a clear volume commitment (if any), and the agreed surcharge methodology attached. Push the carrier's booking desk for a transition plan — the first three sailings under a new contract are when operational gaps surface. Schedule a quarterly business review and name the metrics that will be on the agenda: on-time percent, roll percent, invoice-match percent, exception-resolution time.
A well-awarded RFP does not end when the contract is signed. It ends when the first three bookings under the new paper arrive on time and the first invoice reconciles without an exception. If either does not happen, you are back in negotiation — use the leverage of a fresh contract while the commercial team still owns the relationship.
Need a second set of eyes on an RFP in progress? We run the desk on dozens of ocean RFPs a year. A 90-minute call usually flags two or three things worth catching before the bids go out. Book an RFP review →
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