Data licensing
License the benchmarks
The public figures are free to cite. A license adds what a product, a pricing model or a client report needs: use without a credit line, monthly delivery, history, and the cuts we don't publish.
01Options
Three ways to use the data
Public data
Free
CC BY 4.0: credit required
- National and port benchmarks for 12 fees
- Yearly trends since 2021
- The container fill-rate study
- CSV and JSON, refreshed monthly
Data license
Annual
Priced by use and reach
- Use in products, models and client work without a credit line
- The full files every month, with notes on what changed
- History back to 2021 for fees whose billing codes stayed constant
- Cuts we don't publish, such as monthly series, where they pass the same publication rules
- A named contact for questions about the data
Custom benchmark
Project
Scoped and quoted
- Your invoices or quotes compared with the benchmark, fee by fee
- Benchmarks for the ports and lanes you ship
- Data support for research, reporting and expert analysis
02What's inside
Measured from invoices, not surveys
Every figure is built from line-item invoices a licensed US freight forwarder and customs broker billed to importers, aggregated under fixed publication rules. The current release:
Built for
- Freight tech
Quoting, TMS and visibility platforms that want landed-cost estimates to include the fees that arrive later.
- Finance and risk
Insurers, lenders and trade-finance teams that price the cost of delay at a port.
- Advisors
Consultancies and procurement advisors benchmarking a client's freight bills.
- Research and media
Analysts and publishers who need a dependable series and someone to answer questions about it.
The same rules for every license
- No importer or source forwarder is ever named or identifiable.
- No invoices, shipment records or container numbers, only aggregates.
- No figure from fewer than 10 importers, and no importer above 25% of any figure.
- No rollups that would reveal a port we hold back.
The full rules are in the methodology.
03How it works
From first email to monthly delivery
- Tell us the useWhat you'd build or publish, who sees it and how often you need it.
- Get a sample and termsWe send a sample file, a license that fits the use, and a price.
- Receive it monthlyThe files arrive with each refresh, with notes on anything that changed.
Request pricing
Tell us how you'd use the data
We reply within one business day with questions about your use, a sample file and a price. No obligation.
- Aggregates only, under the same rules as the public site
- CSV and JSON by private download link; other formats on request
- Licenses sized to your use, from one report to a platform
Prefer email? hello@centrevilletech.com
Data licensing inquiry
Licensing questions
Can I use the free data commercially?
Yes. The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license allows commercial use, including in products and reports, as long as you credit Freight Benchmarks. A license is for when a credit line doesn't work for you, or when you need monthly delivery, history or cuts we don't publish.
What does a license cost?
It depends on how the data is used and how widely it is seen, from a single client report to a platform. Tell us about the use and we'll send a price with a sample file.
Do you sell invoice-level or shipment-level data?
No. Every license contains aggregates that pass the same publication rules as the public site. We never share invoices, shipment records, importer identities or the name of the source forwarder.
How is the data delivered?
As CSV and JSON files by private download link after each monthly refresh, with notes on what changed. Ask if you need another format or an API.
How current is the data?
Each monthly refresh covers shipments first invoiced up to about 90 days earlier, so demurrage and detention that are billed late are already included.