Freight rate request email template
A ready-to-copy email for asking your overseas agents for a rate, for FCL, LCL and air. It asks for everything you need to compare the replies: all-in price, surcharges, transit time, free time and validity.
Copy the template
Subject: Rate request: {origin port} to {destination port}, {qty} x {container type}, ready {date}
Hi {agent name},
Please send your best rate for the shipment below.
Origin: {city, country} / POL {port}
Destination: {city, country} / POD {port}
Incoterm: {e.g. FOB, EXW, CIF}
Commodity: {description}, HS code {code if known}
Equipment: {qty} x {20'GP / 40'HC / 40'RF}
Gross weight: {kg per container}
Cargo ready: {date}
Dangerous goods: {no / yes, class and UN number}
Services needed: {port to port / door to port / pickup / customs clearance}
Please quote:
- All-in rate, with each surcharge listed (BAF, THC, documentation, etc.)
- Currency
- Transit time and routing (direct or via which port)
- Carrier or airline
- Free time at destination
- Validity of the rate
Please reply to this email by {deadline}.
Thank you,
{your name}
{company} | {phone}Replace everything in {curly brackets}. Delete the lines that do not apply to this shipment. To track the replies, use the free Excel quote tracker.
How to get replies you can actually compare
- 1.
Ask for the all-in rate, itemised
A freight-only price next to an all-in price looks cheaper and is not. Asking every agent for the same breakdown is what makes their replies comparable at all.
- 2.
Always ask for validity and free time
The cheapest rate is often the one that expires on Friday or gives two free days at destination. If you do not ask, half the replies will not say.
- 3.
Give a reply deadline
A clear time ("by 3 pm tomorrow") gets faster answers than "at your earliest convenience", and tells you when to chase.
- 4.
One lane per email
Two routes in one request come back as one tangled reply. One shipment per email keeps every answer tied to one quote.
- 5.
Send the same request to several agents
No single agent is cheapest on every lane. Three to ten agents per request is normal on a busy desk.
- 6.
Chase the ones who have not answered
Agents are busy too. A short reminder a few hours before your deadline brings in rates that would otherwise arrive after the client has booked elsewhere.
Sending it to ten agents?
The template is the easy part. Then come ten emails, replies in ten formats, PDFs and screenshots, rates copied into Excel by hand, and chasing the agents who have not answered.
Lead Quote Track sends this request to every agent who covers the lane, from your own Gmail or Outlook address. Agents reply as they always do, with no login. LQT reads each reply, including PDFs and screenshots, checks every rate, and ranks them in one table.
No credit card. Your agents change nothing.
Questions about freight rate requests
What should a freight rate request email include?
Origin and destination (port or airport), Incoterm, commodity and HS code if known, the equipment or the packages with weight and volume, the cargo ready date, whether the goods are dangerous, and which services you need. Then ask for the all-in rate with surcharges listed, the currency, transit time, carrier, free time and validity, and give a reply deadline.
How many agents should I send a rate request to?
Most forwarders ask three to ten agents per shipment, because no single agent is cheapest on every lane. The cost is the work afterwards: every reply arrives in a different format and has to be compared by hand.
What is the difference between an FCL, LCL and air freight rate request?
FCL is priced per container, so you give the container type, quantity and weight. LCL is priced on volume and weight, so you give the packages, dimensions, total CBM and total weight. Air is priced per kilogram of chargeable weight, so you give the pieces, dimensions and gross weight.
How do I compare the rates agents send back?
Put every reply on the same basis: all-in price in one currency, transit time, free time and validity side by side. Most desks do this in Excel by copying each reply in by hand. Lead Quote Track does it automatically: it sends one request to every agent from your own email, reads each reply (including PDFs and screenshots) and ranks the rates in one table.
Can I send one rate request to several agents at once?
From a normal mailbox you either send separate emails or put agents in BCC, and then sort the replies yourself. Lead Quote Track sends the same request to each agent as its own email from your Gmail or Outlook address, files every reply under that request, and shows who has not answered yet.
Something missing from the template? Tell us and a person will reply.