Blog · Data quality and reconciliation · Shipping and logistics
How a forwarder builds one customer view across ocean and air without ever adding a container to a kilogram: mode as a dimension, units per mode, reconciliation per mode to invoiced volume, revenue as the only figure that sums across modes, and the reporting mistakes that follow when the two are blended.
A forwarder's commercial director wants one view of a customer. The booking system has ocean in TEU, air in kilograms, and road in pallets. Somewhere a report adds them, and the number that comes out is believed because it is on a page. This guide sets out how to keep the modes apart in one roll-up and what the customer view looks like when it is done right.
Every booking row carries a mode. Volume columns carry the unit for that mode.
| Booking | Customer | Mode | Lane | Volume | Unit | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B-1001 | 2207 | Ocean | Asia to N. Europe | 40 | TEU | $62,000 |
| B-1002 | 2207 | Air | HKG to LHR | 3,200 | kg chargeable | $18,400 |
| B-1003 | 2207 | Road | Rotterdam to Leeds | 26 | pallets | $2,900 |
Revenue sums: $83,300. Volume does not: 40 of something plus 3,200 of something else is not a quantity.
invoiced TEU = Σ ocean bookings (TEU) invoiced chargeable weight = Σ air bookings (kg) invoiced revenue = Σ all bookings (revenue)
Three assertions. The first two are per mode; the third is the only cross-mode identity. A mislabelled mode fails two of them in opposite directions and is found.
| Customer 2207 | Ocean | Air | Road | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This quarter | 1,740 TEU | 212 t | 480 pallets | $1.9m |
| Lane share | 47% | 31% | ||
| Trend | +8% | −12% | +3% | +4% |
Four columns that mean something, rather than one that does not. Lane share is computed per mode against the customer's total in that mode's unit.
Sometimes a customer's tender expresses ocean in cubic metres or air in gross weight. The conversion is applied on the way in, at a factor stated on the report, and the original unit is kept on the row. LCL at a factor of so many cubic metres per TEU; air at the chargeable weight rule of the greater of gross and volumetric. Explicit, the same everywhere, reversible.
Volume summed across modes. The one error this article exists to prevent. Any report with a single "volume" column across modes is wrong.
Mode inferred from the lane. A port-pair lane is ocean, an airport pair is air, until a customer books air freight between two cities that also have ports. Carry the mode on the booking.
Chargeable versus gross. Air revenue is on chargeable weight. A report on gross weight understates light, bulky cargo. Use chargeable.
Revenue split by mode from a blended booking. A multimodal booking with one revenue line has to be split by a rule, stated, or reported as multimodal.
Mapped once, the booking export produces the per-mode volumes, the per-mode reconciliations and the revenue total per customer every quarter. Covirage builds this from the export as it is. The shipping and logistics page describes the setup, and the trade lane share guide covers the share measure per mode.
In revenue, which sums across modes, and in volume per mode side by side: 1,740 TEU ocean, 212 tonnes air. A customer view has three numbers, not one.
Cubic metres, as a third ocean unit, or converted to TEU at a stated factor. State the factor on the report. The rule is that every unit conversion is explicit and the same everywhere.
The per-mode reconciliation. An air booking coded as ocean makes invoiced TEU exceed booked TEU by a shipment with no container, and invoiced tonnage fall short by the same shipment. Both fail, and the row is found.