Question about Ferry Rates

Looking at how much it costs to do a couple of jobs that my boss has got me acquiring quotes for, and it struck me that the ferry crossing could well be one of the largest expenses after fuel. By the way, I am only interested in the cost side, because I try not to use freight forwarders or hauliers that are obviously running at a loss, because somewhere along the line the customer has to realise that prices cannot always go down.

Example, job from Manchester to mettmann, germany. 440 Kms if you go from hull to rotterdam on the ferry. So fuel will not be a particularly large expense for this mileage ( about £150 ish), whereas the ferry could be over £200 one way !!

Now I know that my boss does not worry too much about price, so if I were to get some quotes in he would not neccesarily go for the cheapest, and I like to think thatI have a rough idea what a job like this should go for, but maybe you guys can help me out. I am estimating that the rate for a job like this would be somewhere in the region of £850 ?

The problem with ferry rates, is that there is not any standard rates. some companies charge per metre, some companies charge per tonne / metre, some will make a handling charge, even for self -drive.

No 2 haulage companies will be paying the same rate.

P&O NSF are probably going to want a lot more than £200 as well. We were paying £120 for a 6 metre lift tank 10 years ago. There is even a difference in price on import loads as Rotterdam to Hull was more expensive than Hull to Rotterdam

leehellcat:
Looking at how much it costs to do a couple of jobs that my boss has got me acquiring quotes for, and it struck me that the ferry crossing could well be one of the largest expenses after fuel. By the way, I am only interested in the cost side, because I try not to use freight forwarders or hauliers that are obviously running at a loss, because somewhere along the line the customer has to realise that prices cannot always go down.

Example, job from Manchester to mettmann, germany. 440 Kms if you go from hull to rotterdam on the ferry. So fuel will not be a particularly large expense for this mileage ( about £150 ish), whereas the ferry could be over £200 one way !!

Now I know that my boss does not worry too much about price, so if I were to get some quotes in he would not neccesarily go for the cheapest, and I like to think thatI have a rough idea what a job like this should go for, but maybe you guys can help me out. I am estimating that the rate for a job like this would be somewhere in the region of £850 ?

YOUR WAY OFF I SAY YOUR WAY OFF WITH THAT QUOTE! Cheapest ferries are from Dover ( Norfolk line to Dunkerque ) for small haulage companies. More voulme/crossings you do = cheaper fares. Mine went down by £20 per crossing after 4 months.

NSF would want over £300 one way ( that was 2 yrs ago) Dover/Dunkerque £175 2 yrs ago. To be competitive, you would be looking at approx £600 give or take to do the job and that wud be including the ferries! Its not a lot and cud be too high at that rate!

Higher than that then I doubt very much if you would get it, because you wud be undercut. You would probably be looking at £850/£1000 return so round trip £1500 average which aint too bad. 2 of them per week = not bad money

ex Hull 74 pence per Kilomtre after you have taken the ferry out at £300 or Dover 50 pence per Km after you take the ferry out at £175. These are estimates.
Let us know how you get on please!!! :slight_smile:

I should probably make it clear that I am getting prices from Hauliers/Freight Forwarders for doing this work, as my company is an end user rather than in hte haulage game.
The company I drive a desk for, are a Marquee Manufacturer. All of our stuff is made at our production plant and shipped out from them to us in cambridgeshire. We then send it on.
But (and this is where it all gets a bit less clear), whereas in the Uk we only sell, our German head office also rent marquee’s out. As part of this they arrange to ship the marquee’s out to the site that they are required at (such as silverstone for the F1), and normally they arrange to pick them up again. But of late they have been asking us to sort these ‘return’ trips out from this end.

What I am trying to work out, is how much it costs to do one of these types of job, so that I can come up with an approximate formula for working out how much a job will be before I have to call round half a dozen hauliers.

Now I know that there will always be hauliers that quote stupid prices, but I do not and will not buy on price alone. I value service far and above price, and I am instillnig that thought nito every customer of ours that I deal with. If one of our customers wants a marquee delivering I will get a price froma haulier, and if it does not sound enough to me (based on some crude calculations I have concocted), then I charge the customer what I think it should be. If they do not like it they are more than welcome to sort it out themselves, but if they want me to do it then they have to pay fair market price.

Now Where this ramble is heading is basically when trying to estimate a rate for a job I am currently working on about £250 a day, plus about 45p per mile. Based on covering a maximum of 420 miles per day.
The ferry question was basically, that I figure the ferry has to go ontop of these prices to make it pay. Otherwise you are running at near cost price, which I would never ask a haulier to do.

One thing that has surprised me is that we currently use a UK based freight forwarder to bring in our regular loads from Germany to Cambridgeshire, and they are cheaper than any of the foreign firms I have contacted. I spoke to LKW Walter, LKW Augustin, and CCC, all of whom were some 50% more expensive than the UK firm we are using. Now who says that it is foreigners driving down the rates in the UK ■■ Morel ike Muppet freight forwarders in the UK driving down the rates. :smiling_imp:

sorry misunderstood!!! there are various methods in working things out some work on volume, tonnage,no of pallets, pence per km etc etc etc. what I think you need to do is calculate a hauliers fixed costs, i.e cost of vehicle,trailer,insurance,road tax,servicing,O licence,MOT,wages, and any other costs that a haulier has to pay. work these out on a yrly basis then divide them by 365 days to give you one days fixed cost.
these are the costs that the haulier will have to pay whether the truck moves or not!!!
The add on the running costs and these will include diesel/ferry/tolls/phone usage,depreciation of truck/trailer, tyre wear then add the 2 together , you have your price.

If you want a formula then pm me!!! Foreign Freight forwarders will charge higher abroad as this is where they make their dosh!! The UK forwarder is doing in Europe what the foreign firms are doin here in the UK !!! Its what you call fair play BUT ITS BAD PRCATICE ON BOTH SIDES

as commendable as your stance is, you are fooling yourself - unfortunately “the market” dictates rates and if your bosses realise they can pay half of your estimate then they will go for that

i’am responsible for buying all transport in at our company, and have banged the drum for UK hauliers for years, using foreigners very rarely - nett result is that 2nd quarter 2005 turnover dropped by almost 50% and i have some serious decision making to do, either do what all our competitors are doing or get out - and sooner rather than later.

by the way although i’d pretty much agree with your estimate, there are benelux firms who would do the run to mettmann for under £500 driver accompanied, the unaccompanied outfits might be £ 350 i’d guess

jj72:
as commendable as your stance is, you are fooling yourself - unfortunately “the market” dictates rates and if your bosses realise they can pay half of your estimate then they will go for that

i’am responsible for buying all transport in at our company, and have banged the drum for UK hauliers for years, using foreigners very rarely - nett result is that 2nd quarter 2005 turnover dropped by almost 50% and i have some serious decision making to do, either do what all our competitors are doing or get out - and sooner rather than later.

by the way although i’d pretty much agree with your estimate, there are benelux firms who would do the run to mettmann for under £500 driver accompanied, the unaccompanied outfits might be £ 350 i’d guess

Is this my quote or the guy who needs it ? You are down 50% ? Thats sum drop !!! Hope you can swing it around. But dont do as so many do and think it will get better next week, that week NEVER comes!

don’t get me wrong - turnover may be down 50% but it’s sustainable for quite a while because of years building a healthy balance sheet and not going for big flash toys etc, my dilema is whether i WANT to carry on by using cheapjack foreign (and UK to a small extent) contractors doing a shoddy job - hmmmmm

Well, I decided that I should contact a ferry company and get some rates. Spoke to Direct Freight Ferries.
Hull to Rotterdam. £620.50 !!!

Madness, I told them they were takin the P

U GOT A PM