Original product reference · operational descriptions below explain archived capabilities. Only the three saved-rate dashboard tools are active.
Compare Container Shipping Rates — Archived Capability Preview
The original freight and landed-cost comparison workflow is preserved as a capability preview. This showcase does not serve live freight rates or current total shipment quotes.
Create Free AccountAPI service retired. No payments are available in this showcase.
Why Comparing Shipping Rates Is More Complex Than You Think
The freight rate you see on a carrier's website or get from a broker is rarely the final cost of moving a container from origin to destination. Ocean freight typically represents only 60% to 75% of the total landed cost. The remaining 25% to 40% comes from a maze of accessorial charges, surcharges, and penalties that vary by carrier, route, port, and season. Without comparing these hidden costs side by side, you could choose a carrier with the lowest headline rate and still end up paying significantly more in total.
Charges depend on the carrier’s applicable tariff, equipment, direction, free days and escalating daily slabs. No illustrative current price is offered here. The working dashboard exposes only the selected saved tariff and its original source references.
The ShippingRates methodology explains how carrier-backed tariff sources, scraper validation, and fail-closed promotion rules support these comparisons.
What Goes Into the Total Landed Cost
A complete rate comparison must account for every cost component between the shipper's dock and the consignee's warehouse:
- Ocean freight rate: The base cost of transporting the container. This varies by carrier, trade lane, contract type (spot vs. long-term), and season.
- Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF): A fuel surcharge that fluctuates with oil prices. In 2026, the Iran conflict pushed BAF rates up 15% to 25% on Middle East routes.
- EU ETS carbon surcharge:The original product included surcharge context. Current carbon charges and regulatory calculations are not supplied by this historical showcase.
- War risk and piracy surcharges: Red Sea diversions and Hormuz tensions have kept these surcharges elevated throughout 2026.
- Demurrage and detention risk: The potential cost of holding containers beyond free time at both the port (demurrage) and off-dock (detention). Use our demurrage calculator and detention calculator to quantify this risk by carrier.
- Local charges: Terminal handling, documentation fees, container cleaning, and other port-specific charges that vary by carrier and terminal operator.
- Inland haulage: Trucking or rail costs to move the container from the port to the final destination.
Reviewed Freight Intelligence, One API
The original ShippingRates product provided programmatic access to source-backed tariff data within its reviewed active denominator. Whether you are a freight forwarder building a quote comparison tool, an enterprise shipper optimizing routing, or an AI agent using structured shipping inputs, unsupported combinations remain explicit no-data results.
- D&D Compare: Side-by-side demurrage and detention rates for all carriers on any route.
- Freight Rates: Spot and contract rate benchmarks across major trade lanes.
- Surcharges: BAF, CAF, war risk, ETS, and seasonal surcharges by carrier.
- Transit Times: Port-to-port transit data with historical reliability scores.
- Total Cost: A single endpoint that calculates the full landed cost including all components above.
- Port Intelligence: Congestion indices, vessel schedules, and regulatory alerts.
The original integration exposed data via REST API with x402 micropayments (Base and Solana), or through our MCP server for direct integration with AI agents running on Claude, GPT, or any MCP-compatible platform.
For Developers: Build a Rate Comparison Tool
Our step-by-step tutorial shows you how to connect to the ShippingRates API, compare D&D rates, and build a landed cost estimator in under an hour. The original request quota is retired; the free showcase has no active API calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
What carriers does ShippingRates cover?
The original product published only reviewed source-backed combinations. The current historical demo supports the narrow saved subset described above; the original API is retired. A narrow saved-rate demonstration dated 6 August 2026. Historical Hapag-Lloyd India detention and MSC import DTHC at Ennore and Mundra only; not current quotes..
How often is rate data updated?
This historical showcase is not refreshed. Its narrow saved tariff snapshot is dated 6 August 2026. Current rate, transit and congestion feeds are retired.
What is the total landed cost of a container shipment?
The total landed cost includes far more than just the ocean freight rate. It encompasses: the base freight rate, origin local charges, origin haulage, BAF and CAF surcharges, war risk and piracy surcharges, EU ETS carbon levy, destination terminal handling charges, demurrage risk, detention risk, destination haulage, customs fees, and any applicable tariffs or duties. The original total-cost API was designed to combine these components; that endpoint is retired.
Can I access ShippingRates data programmatically?
Yes. ShippingRates offers a full REST API covering rates, D&D comparisons, local charges, transit times, port congestion, regulatory data, and more. The original product also offered an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for AI agent integration. The free tier includes 25 requests per month. API documentation is available at api.shippingrates.org/docs.
How does ShippingRates compare to other shipping rate platforms?
Unlike broker-focused platforms that require login and manual quote requests, The original ShippingRates product provided programmatic access to carrier tariff data. Our unique differentiators are: real D&D comparison across all covered shipping lines, dual-chain crypto payment support via x402, an MCP server for AI agent consumption, and coverage of major surcharges and accessorial charges in a single API.