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AI IN LOGISTICS you really good service,” Brocca said.“ Maybe they have a super-fast transit time, maybe they have capacity always available for you. You’ ll never have this information if you don’ t have a benchmark.”
Xeneta’ s core customer base comprises mostly large-scale shippers with complex supply chains transporting goods between multiple regions and across multiple corridors. The company serves myriad industries, including fast-moving consumer goods, retail, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and technology, plus freight forwarders and ocean carriers.
Its most important markets are Europe and North America, although Xeneta is growing fast in Asia and is seeking to expand in Latin America. In August, the company acquired Danish maritime and supply chain data company eeSea, expanding its services to include performance- and service-level insights.
“ We map all the liner schedules and services around the world and overlay real-time vessel positioning, so we’ re able to track when vessels arrive at ports versus what was promised by the carriers,” Brocca said.“ We use that to calculate capacity, schedule liability, transit time delays and so on.”
Xeneta’ s platform predicts rates, providing three- and six-month market forecasts for the top 13 regional corridors. It offers similar from a servicelevel perspective, suggesting a 90-day forecast for when ships should arrive at a particular port based on their journeys from preceding ports and historical performance.
Many of Xeneta’ s customers are shifting from tendering to using its platform as an index; its index simulator and contract manager allow clients to simulate whether switching to an indexbased contract is financially advisable.
“ If you only look at price and always try to get the cheapest [ rate ], you’ ll also be the first one that needs to renegotiate. You’ ll be the first one to have a disruption in their supply chain,” Brocca said.
Often, customers care more about reliability and transit time than cost.
“ Should I go tender now? Should I wait? Should I sign a three-month contract or a one-year contract, or a three-year contract with indexing? We help with a lot of those decisions,” Brocca added.
“ The market is more volatile than ever. Every time there’ s a market swing, whether it’ s up or down, it’ s quite severe. There’ s an illusion of having a contract. You sign a contract, you think you have a rate and it’ s going to be valid for one year and nothing’ s going to happen. But then COVID happens, or the Red Sea [ shipping disruption ] happens. And all of a sudden, your rates aren’ t valid anymore, your carriers are applying surcharges.
“ In reality, there are constant negotiations, and those contracts are not www. joc. com December 1, 2025 | Journal of Commerce 47