About
Xeneta is the world's largest freight intelligence platform, specializing in ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics. Serving global shippers, freight forwarders, carriers, and airlines, it delivers real-time market data that eliminates guesswork from freight procurement, rate validation, and supplier management. The platform covers a comprehensive range of use cases: benchmarking freight rates against live market data, running tenders with neutral third-party benchmarks, monitoring carrier schedule reliability, forecasting freight budgets, and managing index-linked contracts. The Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI®) provides a standardized market benchmark, while Freight Futures enables trading and hedging of freight costs based on real-time market signals. Xeneta Advisory adds an analyst-led layer, translating complex market data into executive-ready decisions. The platform serves procurement, logistics operations, supply chain, and finance teams across industries including agriculture, automotive, chemicals, food and beverage, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and retail. Key differentiators include the world's largest crowd-sourced freight rate database, independent and validated data, and end-to-end coverage of both ocean and air freight markets. By unifying market rate intelligence, carrier performance analytics, and tender management in a single platform, Xeneta gives logistics-intensive businesses a decisive competitive advantage in freight negotiations and cost control.
Key Features
- Freight Rate Benchmarking: Compare your contracted ocean and air freight rates against live market benchmarks sourced from the world's largest crowd-sourced rate database.
- Tender & Sourcing Management: Run freight tenders using neutral, independent market data to negotiate better contracts and build a resilient carrier network.
- Carrier Performance Monitoring: Validate carrier schedule reliability and compare supplier performance across routes and trade lanes in real time.
- Freight Budget Forecasting: Plan and forecast freight costs with confidence using historical trends, market forecasts, and the Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI®).
- Freight Futures & Risk Management: Trade and hedge freight costs using real-time market data, and manage index-linked contracts to mitigate rate volatility risk.
Use Cases
- Benchmarking contracted freight rates against live market averages to identify overpayment and negotiate better carrier contracts.
- Running data-driven freight tenders using neutral third-party rate intelligence to evaluate bids objectively and build an optimal carrier mix.
- Monitoring carrier schedule reliability and service performance to manage supplier risk and ensure supply chain continuity.
- Forecasting annual freight budgets using historical rate trends and market projections to improve financial planning accuracy.
- Hedging freight cost exposure by trading freight futures and managing index-linked contracts to reduce the impact of rate volatility on margins.
Pros
- World's Largest Freight Rate Database: Xeneta aggregates crowd-sourced rate data from thousands of shippers and forwarders, providing unmatched market coverage across ocean and air freight.
- End-to-End Coverage: Covers both ocean and air freight markets in a single platform, eliminating the need for multiple point solutions.
- Analyst-Led Advisory: Xeneta Advisory services add human expertise to raw data, delivering executive-ready market intelligence beyond just dashboards and charts.
- Replaces Manual Workflows: Eliminates error-prone spreadsheet-based rate management, enabling faster procurement cycles and more confident negotiations.
Cons
- Enterprise-Focused Pricing: Xeneta is designed for large shippers, forwarders, and carriers; pricing is likely prohibitive for small businesses or occasional shippers.
- Niche Use Case: The platform is purpose-built for freight and logistics professionals, limiting its applicability outside of supply chain and procurement roles.
- Onboarding Complexity: The breadth of features and data outputs may require significant onboarding and training for teams new to data-driven freight procurement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Xeneta?
Xeneta is the world's leading ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform. It provides real-time freight rate data, carrier performance insights, and market intelligence to help logistics professionals make smarter procurement and supply chain decisions.
Who is Xeneta designed for?
Xeneta serves BCO shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, and airlines. Within those organizations, it is used by procurement, logistics operations, supply chain, and finance teams across industries such as retail, automotive, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage.
Does Xeneta cover both ocean and air freight?
Yes. Xeneta offers dedicated modules for both ocean freight and air freight, providing rate benchmarking, carrier performance monitoring, tender management, and budget forecasting for both transport modes.
How does Xeneta help with freight procurement?
Xeneta provides neutral, third-party market rate data that shippers can use to benchmark carrier quotes, run tenders, validate invoices, and negotiate contracts from a position of full market visibility — replacing guesswork and spreadsheets with data-driven insights.
What is the Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI®)?
The XSI® (Xeneta Shipping Index by Compass) is Xeneta's standardized benchmark index for ocean freight rates. It enables shippers and carriers to manage and monitor index-linked contracts and track market-wide freight rate movements over time.
