Published rates and broker quotes
See what your route costs.
One search, and we answer either way. Where we publish rates on your route, every service we run on it comes back on screen with an indicative all-in price. Where we do not — and you can type any two places, not just the ones we suggest — we say so plainly and a broker goes out to carriers for a real number. That is a better answer than a made-up one, and you get it without an account.
Your route
Two places, a service and an email. The suggestions are corridors we already price — type anything else and a broker prices it instead.
How to read the answer you get back
- Prices are indicative, and we say so on the result
- They reflect today’s published rates for that route and service. They are not a binding offer, they do not reserve capacity, and they are not contract rates.
- You see every service we publish on the route
- Ocean, air, ground, rail — whatever we run on that corridor comes back together with its typical transit band, so you are comparing the real options against each other rather than guessing which to ask for.
- They are all-in on the freight leg
- One figure in one currency for the movement as published — not a base rate with surcharges to be discovered later. Duty, taxes and anything unusual at either end are quoted separately and explicitly.
- “Not published yet” is an answer, not a dead end
- A route we hold no live rate on gets logged with a reference and goes to a broker, who sources it from the carriers running that corridor. You keep the reference either way.
- Account pricing is its own thing
- Customers with contracted volume price on their own terms rather than the public sheet, so the rate you see once you are set up may differ from this one.
Want to see the corridors we already publish before you search? They are all listed in the published corridor index, one page per route with services, indicative prices and transit bands.
Moving something the search cannot describe — project cargo, an out-of-gauge piece, a charter? Write to support@linkcargo.app and describe the move. A person reads it.
01
What actually drives a freight rate.
Distance is the least interesting variable. These are the nine things that decide what your shipment costs, and most of them are decisions you can still influence before the cargo is packed.
01
Chargeable weight, not what the scale says
Air freight bills on the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight — cubic centimetres divided by a dimensional factor of 6,000, so one cubic metre is treated as 167 kg. Ocean LCL bills on the weight-or-measure rule: one tonne or one cubic metre, whichever is greater. Light, bulky cargo is expensive in both, and repacking to lose one pallet position often saves more than any rate negotiation.
02
Equipment and how well you fill it
A 40ft high-cube costs more than a 20ft but rarely twice as much, so cost per cubic metre collapses as you fill it. Reefer, flat rack and open top carry their own economics. On the road, a dry van, a temperature-controlled trailer and a flatbed with tarps are three different price levels for the same distance.
03
The lane, and which way it is running
Freight is directional. A corridor with heavy headhaul volume and empty backhaul prices very differently in each direction, and the cheap direction is the one carriers need to reposition equipment in. Port pairs with direct services beat pairs that need transshipment, both on price and on the variance around the transit.
04
When you ship
Ocean rates move on general rate increases, peak season surcharges and blank sailings when carriers pull capacity. Air tightens hard in the fourth quarter. Truckload spot rates swing with produce season, weather events and the day of the week. A ready date one week either side of a cutoff can change the number materially.
05
Fuel and the surcharge stack
Bunker adjustment, currency adjustment, security and screening fees, and the trucking fuel surcharge all sit on top of a base rate in a conventional quote. We publish a single all-in figure instead, so the comparison you make between us and an incumbent is a comparison of totals, not of base rates.
06
Origin and destination charges
Terminal handling at both ends, CFS handling for consolidated cargo, documentation fees, port and wharfage charges, chassis rental in some US markets. These are frequently where a headline rate quietly becomes a different number, so we state what is inside the price and what is not.
07
First and last mile
Port to door is not port to port. Drayage from the terminal, liftgate service, inside delivery, residential or limited-access delivery, appointment scheduling and waiting time are all real costs. So is a delivery site with no dock.
08
Customs, duty and compliance
Duty and taxes are assessed by the destination authority on your declared value and HS classification — they are not freight, and no forwarder quotes them as freight. Clearance work, bonds, and any permits or licences your commodity requires are separate line items we can arrange and will quote plainly.
09
The charges that arrive later
Demurrage runs when a container sits in the terminal past its last free day; detention runs when it sits at your facility; per diem runs on the chassis. These are the most avoidable costs in freight and the most common budget surprise. We track free time on the shipment so the clock is visible before it starts costing money.
02
What we need for a firm quote.
An indicative price needs a lane and a service. A rate you can book against needs the shipment. Have these to hand and the firm quote usually comes back the same day.
- Commodity description and HS code — classification drives duty, restrictions and sometimes the routing itself.
- Gross weight and dimensions per piece, plus the piece count and packaging type.
- Incoterm and the named place, so it is unambiguous who arranges and pays each leg.
- Cargo ready date, and any required delivery date you are working back from.
- Whether the cargo is stackable, palletised or loose — it decides how much of the equipment you actually pay for.
- Hazardous goods: UN number, class and packing group. We cannot price dangerous goods without them.
- Temperature or humidity requirements, and whether the range is a target or a hard limit.
- Declared value, if you want cargo insurance quoted alongside the freight.
- Anything unusual at either end: no dock, restricted access, timed delivery, weekend collection.
03
What happens after you enquire.
No sales sequence, no discovery call before anyone will talk about price. Five steps, and you can stop at any of them.
01
You get a reference immediately
Every enquiry is logged with a reference against the email you gave. Quote it in any follow-up and nobody has to ask you for the details again.
02
A broker looks at the lane
If we publish a rate, you have already seen the indicative figure. If we do not, someone goes out to carriers on that corridor rather than sending you a polite holding email.
03
A firm quote comes back
Priced against your actual commodity, weight, dimensions and ready date, with a validity date and a stated routing. It can land above or below the indicative number — that is the point of quoting the real consignment.
04
You book it in the account
Accepting a rate creates a booking with a pickup window and a document checklist. Nothing is committed until you accept, and creating the account itself commits you to nothing.
05
Documents and milestones in one place
Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill and certificates attach to the shipment. Gate-in, departure, arrival, customs release and delivery post against the same record.
04
Questions we get asked before the first shipment.
- Is the price on this page a quote I can hold you to?
- No. It is indicative: what the lane prices at today on our public rate sheet, for a standard consignment. It is not a binding offer and it does not reserve space or equipment. A firm quote is issued against your shipment details and carries an explicit validity date.
- Why is the indicative price sometimes different from what I am quoted later?
- Because the indicative figure assumes a standard consignment on a standard routing. Your chargeable weight, packaging, Incoterm, ready date and any accessorial requirements all move the real number. Contracted customers also price on their own account terms rather than the public sheet.
- Do I need an account to see a price?
- No. Searching a route here is open, and so is every published price it returns. You need an account to book, to see firm rates with validity dates, to upload documents and to track shipments — those are things that require a company record behind them.
- Does the price include customs duty and taxes?
- No. Duty and import taxes are assessed by the destination authority against your declared value and HS classification, and they are quoted separately from freight. We can arrange customs clearance and will price that work explicitly.
- My route is not in the suggestions. Can you still move it?
- Usually, yes — and you should type it in anyway. The suggestions only cover corridors we already publish a rate for; the fields themselves take any origin and destination. A route we do not publish comes back saying exactly that, with a reference, and a broker sources it from the carriers running that corridor.
- Why do the suggestions not list every place you ship to?
- Because the dropdown is drawn from the corridors we publish live rates on today, not from everywhere we can move freight. It is a shortcut to an instant price, not the limit of our network — which is why the fields accept free text.
- How long does a firm quote stay valid?
- Every firm rate carries its own validity date, because the underlying market does not stand still — ocean contracts, air capacity and truckload spot pricing all move on different clocks. The date is on the quote, and the platform shows you when a rate is close to lapsing.
- Do you handle temperature-controlled or hazardous cargo?
- Yes for reefer and temperature-controlled. Dangerous goods are quoted case by case and we need the UN number, class and packing group before anyone gives you a price — a rate quoted without them is not a rate you should rely on.
Next
Book against a rate, not an email thread.
An account gets you firm quotes with validity dates, one-click booking, document handling and shipment tracking for everyone on your team. It takes a couple of minutes and commits you to nothing.