FRESCO, the new Freight Rate Exchange for Shipping Containers, has been launched by Linescape in a bid to raise "the bar in competitive purchasing and sales for the freight forwarding sector and buyers of freight services.

The service follows the launch of the company's on-line search engine for container sailing schedules that hosts schedules from more than 120 shipping lines.

FRESCO is said to connect the two main groups of visitors in Linescape's user base, giving access to each other for the purpose of initiating bookings and a business relationship.

"We bring together shippers and forwarders, requesting and offering freight rate quotations, all seamlessly tied in to our sailing schedule search engine," said Linescape's co-founder Dimitrios Sogas.

"Users can now leverage the huge user base Linescape has assembled, and simplify the task of gathering quotes or finding new customers. With just a few simple steps, a shipper can request quotes from a much larger group of forwarders than would previously have been feasible.

"And similarly, forwarders can reach a much wider customer base, all made possible by the broad appeal of Linescape's simple and powerful sailing schedules search engine."

FRESCO users seeking to book a shipment on a specific route can seek a quotation from many logistics providers at one time with one request, ensuring the users receive the most competitive prices.

The system works by freight forwarders and other logistics providers establishing a FRESCO membership, selecting the countries from where they wish to offer quotations, so that they can then start receiving rate requests by email. "An added benefit for forwarders is that their company contact details are included in Linescape's directory and appear in Linescape search results, greatly increasing their visibility to thousands of potential new customers," the company said.

"Linescape is an ideal platform for planning container bookings, where users can search and find sailing schedules and get ocean freight rates, all in one place," added co-founder David Tarizzo. "Linescape is a place where shippers and forwarders can do business."

Source: Shipping Gazette