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Freight procurement

Tender design, carrier selection and cost baselining, explained as a practical method.

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Kaelo Global is a Dubai company licensed in Meydan Free Zone, with over 100 clients served so far.

At a glance

ActivityManagement Consultancy
EngagementScoped mandate
MarketsUAE, India, UK, US and Europe
Reply timeWithin two working days

What it is

Buyers already know there is a discovery phase. What helps them most is a scoring matrix they can use.

A principal, Kaelo Global management consultancy

Much freight procurement advice describes a process in three headline words and stops there. Buyers already know there will be a discovery phase. What they often lack is the scoring matrix, the question bank and a baseline structure that makes rates comparable when carriers have quoted on different assumptions. That practical material is the real work, and it is rarely published.

Good freight procurement starts before any carrier is asked to quote. We break down your current spend by lane, mode, weight break and surcharge, design the tender with clear lots and award rules, and agree the scoring weights in writing. After the award, we help you check that the rates you negotiated are the rates you actually pay.

We work with shippers, manufacturers, retailers and trading companies moving goods by sea, air and road across the Gulf, South Asia and beyond. The award decision and the carrier relationships always stay with you.

Tell us about your freight business.

It helps us understand your business before we reply.
We use it only to reply to this enquiry, usually on WhatsApp.
We send a copy of your enquiry here, along with our reply.
The routes you want more business on. We plan search campaigns around them.
Choose the closest range. It helps us suggest a plan that fits.
We read every enquiry and reply within two working days.

What's included

Six areas of scope
01

A cost baseline that makes bids comparable

Rates are quoted on different assumptions and cannot be compared as they arrive. A useful baseline breaks spend down by lane, mode, weight break and surcharge, so that a cheaper base rate carrying heavier surcharges is seen for the more expensive option it is.

02

Tender design before the tender goes out

Scope, lot structure, bid format and award rules decided and written down before the RFQ is issued. Tenders restructured halfway through lose credibility with carriers, and carrier goodwill is a real asset when capacity is tight.

03

Scoring built on agreed weights

Rate, transit reliability, capacity commitment, customs competence, claims history, systems integration and financial standing. The weights are a commercial decision and should be discussed openly, instead of emerging from a spreadsheet nobody owns.

04

Award, and the part that is often skipped

Implementation, loading the rate cards and a regular review that catches drift. Much of the value negotiated in a tender can leak away in the first two quarters after award.

05

Question banks for carriers

Questions that reveal how a carrier really operates, covering escalation, capacity during peak season, claims handling and the team who will manage your account.

06

Checking invoices against contracted rates

A simple routine for comparing invoices with the agreed rate cards, so that billing errors and unapproved surcharges are caught early.

How the work runs

STEP 01

Baseline

Your current spend broken down properly before anyone is asked to quote.

STEP 02

Design

Lots, scope, bid format and award rules agreed in writing.

STEP 03

Run

The question bank issued, responses put on a common basis and scoring applied as designed.

STEP 04

Hold

A review routine after award, with checks for rate drift built in.

When to come to us

  1. 01You are approaching a tender and your current spend has not been broken down.
  2. 02Bids keep arriving in formats you cannot compare.
  3. 03Past tenders delivered savings on paper that did not show up in the accounts.
  4. 04Your volumes, lanes or service needs have changed since the last tender.

What we do not do

  • Publishing universal scoring weights. The right weights depend on your network, and a standard set cannot reflect it.
  • Running a tender only to push down an incumbent's rates. Carriers notice and price that behaviour in.
  • Awarding on base rate alone.

Tell us about your freight business.

It helps us understand your business before we reply.
We use it only to reply to this enquiry, usually on WhatsApp.
We send a copy of your enquiry here, along with our reply.
The routes you want more business on. We plan search campaigns around them.
Choose the closest range. It helps us suggest a plan that fits.
We read every enquiry and reply within two working days.
The gap

Plenty of phase names, very few usable tools.

Much published guidance on freight procurement describes a method in general terms and provides nothing a buyer can use, such as a baseline template, a scoring matrix or a question bank. Those practical tools are what most buyers are looking for.

From our review of published guidance, July 2026

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Common questions

How much weight should rate carry?
It depends on how easily other carriers could serve your lanes and how much reliability is worth to your customers. On common lanes with plenty of capacity, rate can carry most of the weight. On constrained or service-sensitive lanes, weighting rate heavily can leave you with a cheap carrier you replace within a year. The decision should be discussed and recorded, instead of left to a default.
How often should we tender?
More often is not better. Every tender uses internal time and carrier goodwill, and frequent retendering teaches carriers to bid defensively. The trigger should be a real change in volume, network or service, instead of the calendar.
Can you run the tender for us?
We design it, build the documents and support the evaluation. The award decision and the commercial relationship stay with you, which is better practice and the right boundary for a consultancy engagement.
Is this tax or legal advice?
No. This is operational and commercial work. Anything involving customs liability, contract enforceability or tax treatment should go to your own advisers, because it sits outside our licence, and we will say so when a question crosses that line.
What data do we need to start?
Shipment records for the last 12 months with origins, destinations, modes, weights and costs, plus your current contracts and rate cards. If the data is incomplete, building a usable baseline becomes the first task.
Do you work with forwarders or only with shippers?
Our procurement work is for businesses buying freight. Forwarders who want to respond better to tenders can find help on our freight RFQ response page.
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Or send your enquiry here

It helps us understand your business before we reply.
We use it only to reply to this enquiry, usually on WhatsApp.
We send a copy of your enquiry here, along with our reply.
The routes you want more business on. We plan search campaigns around them.
Choose the closest range. It helps us suggest a plan that fits.
We read every enquiry and reply within two working days.

Kaelo Global is a Dubai company licensed in Meydan Free Zone, with over 100 clients served so far.