Custom freight rating extension in transportation management reduces shipping costs by 8% for multi-carrier loads

pat_dev
Thu, 22 May 2025 14:35:00 +0000

Sharing our successful implementation of a custom freight rating extension in BY Luminate 2023.1 that reduced shipping costs by 18% through dynamic contract-based pricing.

Our challenge was that the standard rating engine didn’t support our complex carrier contracts with volume tiers, seasonal adjustments, and fuel surcharge variations. We needed a custom extension that could integrate with carrier APIs in real-time while maintaining contract-based pricing rules stored in our system.

The solution involved extending the FreightRatingService to inject custom rating logic before standard calculations. We built integration adapters for three major carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL) that fetch live rates via their APIs, then apply our negotiated contract discounts and business rules. The extension evaluates multiple rating scenarios and selects the optimal carrier based on cost, transit time, and service requirements.

Implementation took 8 weeks with a team of 2 developers and 1 logistics analyst. The results have been impressive - 18% cost reduction, 95% rating accuracy, and automated carrier selection that previously required manual review.