GRI (General Rate Increase)
GRI, or General Rate Increase, is a freight industry term for a planned hike in shipping rates, typically announced by carriers for a specific trade lane or period. These increases are often applied to base ocean freight rates to address rising operational costs or market demand shifts. Within ERP systems, GRIs can be recorded, tracked, and applied to future shipments, ensuring pricing transparency and faster rate updates across customer quotes and billing.
How GRI Works in Logistics?
When carriers announce a GRI, logistics teams update base tariffs in the ERP by effective date and trade lane. These updates automatically adjust the applicable freight rates in quote tools, job files, and invoices. The system may trigger alerts to notify sales or clients, ensuring pricing accuracy and alignment with market changes. GRIs are also logged for reporting and margin analysis.
Functional Advantages in Logistics Operations
Timely Rate Updates Across Systems
ERP integration ensures that new GRI tariffs are applied uniformly across quotation, booking, and invoicing modules, eliminating outdated pricing or manual errors.
Improved Customer Communication
With GRIs tracked in the system, sales teams can proactively inform customers about upcoming rate changes and adjust quotes accordingly to maintain transparency.
Margin Protection and Forecasting
Automatic GRI application ensures that increased costs are reflected in customer pricing. Finance and management teams can monitor margins and plan based on forecasted increases.
Faster Quote and Contract Adjustments
GRIs can be applied in bulk to selected lanes or customer profiles, allowing faster re-quoting or rate sheet revisions in high-volume forwarding operations.
Historical Trend Analysis
The ERP stores all GRI records for reference. Teams can analyze trends over time to understand market volatility, prepare for seasonal hikes, and strengthen carrier negotiations.
Conclusion
GRI management within the ERP empowers logistics providers to stay responsive to carrier pricing changes. Automating rate updates and aligning customer communication, it supports financial control, customer satisfaction, and quote accuracy. In a competitive freight environment, timely GRI tracking ensures businesses protect margins and remain market-aware.