How to Navigate Rising Shipping Costs: A Collaborative Guide for Buyers & Suppliers

Rising shipping costs have moved from a background annoyance to a core strategic risk—especially for European furniture retailers and importers sourcing from Asia.

Ocean freight, surcharges, port fees, detention and demurrage, plus new environmental and compliance charges are all pushing landed costs upward. For bulky categories like dining chairs and tables, this can easily turn a profitable range into a loss-making one if buyers and suppliers don’t act together.

The companies that cope best with rising shipping costs have：they treat logistics as a joint design challenge between buyers and suppliers, not just a price fight with forwarders.

In this guide, you’ll see how to:

• Understand why rising shipping costs hit European furniture supply chains so hard

• Move from “cost squeeze” to structured, collaborative cost management

• Use data, packaging, contracts and digital tools to control landed cost

• Build a repeatable governance model between European buyers and Asian furniture suppliers

Why Rising Shipping Costs Matter for European Furniture Supply Chains

What rising shipping costs mean for European furniture importers

For European furniture importers and retailers, rising shipping costs are especially painful because:

• Furniture is bulky and space-hungry – every empty cubic metre in a container is pure cost.

• Most sourcing routes are long-haul and sea-based – Asia–Europe lanes can account for a large share of total landed cost.

• Retail prices are set months in advance – buyers often commit to price points and promotions long before freight invoices arrive.

For example, a 40' HC container on an Asia–Northern Europe route filled with flat-pack dining sets can easily carry more than €150,000 of retail value. A “small” increase of €600–€1,000 per container becomes significant when multiplied across dozens or hundreds of containers per season.

If buyers and suppliers treat freight as an external “black box”, they lose margin, predictability and speed. If they tackle rising shipping costs together, they can protect margin without sacrificing availability or service.

Old-School vs Collaborative Cost Management

Before changing strategy, it helps to see how traditional approaches differ from more modern, collaborative ones.

Comparison: Traditional vs Collaborative Response to Rising Shipping Costs

Dimension	Traditional “Cost Squeeze” Approach	Collaborative Buyer–Supplier Approach
Main goal	Push down freight rates at tender	Reduce total landed cost and volatility over time
Relationship tone	Adversarial, transactional	Long-term partnership, joint planning
Data sharing	Minimal; each side guards numbers	Shared forecasts, capacity plans and cost breakdowns
Contract structure	Short-term, rate-focused, little volume discipline	Multi-year, with volume bands, indexation and service-level KPIs
Response to market shocks	Panic re-bookings, last-minute mode shifts (often air freight)	Pre-agreed playbook for rerouting, stock buffers and mode adjustments
Technology use	Email, spreadsheets, manual tracking	TMS, real-time visibility, shared dashboards
Outcome over 2–3 years	Unpredictable costs, frequent disputes	More stable costs, better service, stronger supplier relationships

Most European furniture companies say they want the right-hand column, but everyday behaviour still looks like the left-hand column. The rest of this guide shows how to move decisively into the collaborative model, from structure to day-to-day practice.

Step 1 – Build a Shared View of Demand, Capacity and Risk

You cannot fix rising shipping costs if buyers and suppliers are looking at different realities.

What European buyers should bring

Especially for European furniture retailers importing from Asia:

• Rolling 12–18 month forecast per trade lane (e.g. South China → Rotterdam, Vietnam → Hamburg).

• Seasonality patterns: spring campaigns, outdoor season, back-to-school, Black Friday, Christmas.

• Service-level segmentation: which SKUs are “never out of stock” with tight OTIF targets, and which can tolerate longer lead times.

• Target KPIs, such as:

  • OTIF (On-Time In-Full) by lane and by supplier

  • Container utilisation (%) or average CBM per container

  • Acceptable lead-time windows (e.g. 45–60 days door-to-door)

What Asian furniture suppliers should bring

Asian furniture manufacturers can contribute:

• Production capacity by week and by factory, expressed in containers or CBM.

• Known bottlenecks (holiday shutdowns, maintenance, labour or material constraints).

• Preferred carriers, ports and consolidators, based on proven reliability.

• Historical data on average delays, damage rates and claim volumes for different routes and packaging types.

“Once we started reviewing a shared 6-month forecast with our top Vietnamese chair supplier, we cut emergency air shipments to almost zero.”– Logistics Director, German furniture retail group

When forecasts, capacity and risk are visible on both sides, rising shipping costs become a manageable variable instead of a constant surprise.

Step 2 – Redesign the Physical Shipping Model Together

Rising shipping costs are not only about rates; they’re also about how you physically move and pack the product.

Optimise modes, routes and shipment profiles

For European furniture importers, this often means:

• Balancing speed vs cost: decide which SKUs really need the fastest vessel service and which can sail on slower, cheaper loops.

• Consolidating shipments:

  • Aggregate POs from multiple European markets into full containers.

  • Use regional consolidation hubs in Asia (for example, one in South China, one in Vietnam) to reduce partial loads.

• Using regional European hubs: bring mixed containers into ports like Rotterdam, Antwerp or Hamburg, then rebuild loads for final distribution across DACH and Benelux.

Furniture-specific packaging and container utilisation

Small design tweaks can have big shipping impacts:

• Choose flat-pack instead of assembled where positioning allows, especially for dining tables and side chairs.

• Design chairs and bases to be stackable or nesting.

• Standardise cartons to match common pallet footprints in Europe, reducing “air gaps” in containers.

A realistic target for many European importers is to improve container utilisation by 5–10% within 12 months. For a business moving 300+ containers per year, that alone can offset a significant portion of rising shipping costs.

“By re-engineering packaging for just three hero SKUs, we gained an extra layer per pallet and reduced freight cost per unit by 7%.”– Head of Category Management, Scandinavian furniture chain

Step 3 – Bring Cost Transparency and Scenario Planning into the Relationship

Rising shipping costs feel random when nobody understands the components of the invoice.

Build a shared freight cost breakdown

Work with your logistics provider to create a simple template showing:

• Base ocean freight rate

• Bunker or fuel surcharges

• Port and terminal handling

• Documentation, customs and security fees

• Detention, demurrage and storage

• Environmental or emission-related surcharges

Share this breakdown with your key Asian furniture suppliers. When both sides see the structure, discussions move from:

• “Your freight is too expensive”to

• “Our demurrage is too high on the Hamburg lane; what can we change in booking and unloading?”

Run “what-if” scenarios

At least once or twice a year, run joint scenario sessions:

• What happens if Asia–Europe rates increase by 30% for two quarters?

• What if a main port pair becomes congested and average transit time increases by 10–14 days?

• What if you advance production by two weeks and ship earlier, increasing inventory but reducing premium services?

Quantify the impact on:

• Landed cost per unit (in €)

• Average inventory days and working capital

• OTIF and stock-out risk by category

This type of planning strengthens your ability to negotiate smarter freight and supply contracts, rather than making short-sighted decisions under pressure.

Step 4 – Use Digital Tools for Visibility and Control

Rising shipping costs are hardest to manage when you only see problems after they happen.

Core tools for a European furniture supply chain

Buyers and suppliers can benefit from:

• Transportation Management System (TMS)

  • Centralises lane planning, carrier selection and rate management.

  • Tracks actual cost vs budget per lane and per container.

• Real-time visibility platforms

  • Track containers and see predicted ETA changes in time to re-plan.

  • Manage exceptions proactively instead of reacting to late surprises.

• Shared dashboards

  • A single view of POs, shipments, KPIs and alerts accessible to both European buyers and Asian suppliers.

Even simple dashboards can reduce:

• Late bookings and rollovers

• Last-minute mode upgrades (e.g. switching to expensive services)

• Miscommunication about delivery dates to stores and e-commerce operations

“Once our key suppliers could see the same shipment dashboard we use in Europe, our on-time delivery for garden furniture improved from 78% to 91% in one season.”– Supply Chain Manager, French home & furniture retailer

Make co-investment realistic

You don’t have to digitise everything at once. Start with:

• One pilot lane (e.g. Vietnam → Antwerp).

• One top supplier and one preferred forwarder.

• A clear baseline: current OTIF, delay days, emergency shipments, demurrage.

Then measure improvements and share the value—this is crucial to sustaining collaboration instead of falling back into rate-only negotiations.

Step 5 – Write Contracts that Support Collaboration, Not Just Low Rates

Contracts around freight and supply should encode the collaborative approach—not undermine it.

Move beyond pure spot or fully fixed rates

A practical model for rising shipping costs is a hybrid structure:

• Base rates linked to a known freight index, with caps and floors to manage volatility.

• Volume bands: better rates when the buyer and supplier achieve pre-agreed volume thresholds on key lanes.

• Pre-agreed capacity guarantees during European peak seasons (e.g. March–June for outdoor, September–November for indoor).

This keeps rates realistic while avoiding the extremes of a purely spot-based market.

Make collaboration part of the legal text

Your agreements between European buyers and Asian furniture suppliers should include:

• Joint governance:

  • Quarterly business reviews (QBRs)

  • A fixed agenda: volumes, freight evolution, OTIF, container utilisation, claims, upcoming disruptions

• Data-sharing obligations:

  • Minimum forecast horizon (e.g. 3-, 6- and 12-month rolling forecasts)

  • Agreed update frequency (e.g. monthly)

• Continuous improvement targets:

  • Example: +5 percentage points container fill rate in Year 1

  • Example: –20% reduction in detention and demurrage charges

This type of structured clause helps both sides maintain a stable partnership even as freight markets and supply conditions continue to fluctuate.

Turning Collaboration into a Routine in European Furniture Logistics

Effective collaboration is not a one-off project; it is a working rhythm.

Create a joint “control tower” for key lanes

For your most critical Asia–Europe routes:

• Form a small team representing:

  • Buying / Category Management

  • Supply Chain / Logistics

  • Finance

  • Supplier key account team

• Meet monthly (or bi-weekly during peak) with a shared dashboard covering:

  • Forecast vs actual volume by lane

  • Freight cost trend vs budget

  • OTIF and container utilisation

  • Upcoming events: factory shutdowns, new store openings, major promotions

Learn from both wins and misses

Capture short case notes:

• Positive: “Packaging redesign on item X increased CBM usage per container from 78% to 86%, saving €Y per unit.”

• Negative: “Late PO changes in September forced three emergency air shipments; root cause was delayed range sign-off.”

These project reviews gradually become your team’s “logistics playbook”, helping you respond to rising shipping costs faster and more confidently than competitors.

Quick Checklist for European Furniture Buyers and Asian Suppliers

You are in a strong position to deal with rising shipping costs if:

• You have a shared, documented forecast and capacity plan for each major Asia–Europe lane.

• Container utilisation, demurrage and OTIF are tracked as core KPIs and reviewed jointly.

• Your product and packaging teams have reviewed top SKUs for space efficiency in containers.

• You run scenario planning at least annually for major trade lanes.

• Digital tools (TMS, visibility dashboards) are in place for key suppliers.

• Contracts include indexation, volume bands, governance and improvement targets—not just a raw rate table.

If several points are missing, start with one lane, one supplier and one season. Prove that a collaborative model works there, then scale it across your wider furniture sourcing network.

FAQ: Navigating Rising Shipping Costs in Furniture Supply Chains

1. How should European furniture buyers respond to rising shipping costs?

European furniture buyers should first understand their own exposure: which trade lanes, categories and suppliers carry the highest freight cost and risk. Then they should build joint rolling forecasts with key Asian suppliers, optimise packaging and container utilisation, and move freight contracts from pure price comparison to multi-year agreements with index links, volume bands and clear governance. Relying only on an annual tender makes it very hard to protect margin when shipping costs keep rising.

2. What can Asian furniture suppliers do to help manage higher freight rates?

Asian suppliers can take a proactive role instead of waiting to be squeezed on price. They can:

• Provide realistic, executable capacity and shipping plans.

• Participate in product and packaging optimisation focused on container utilisation.

• Warn early about local holidays, port congestion or regulatory changes that may affect shipping schedules.

• Use agreed templates to share forecasts, production progress and shipment information.

Suppliers who help European buyers turn rising shipping costs into a controlled variable are far more likely to become preferred partners and secure more stable, higher volumes.

3. How quickly can collaboration offset rising shipping costs?

Some levers deliver benefits quite quickly:

• Better booking discipline and early capacity commitments can reduce emergency surcharges within one or two seasons.

• Packaging changes and improved container utilisation can show measurable savings on key SKUs within 3–6 months.

• Contract structure and indexation usually require a full tender cycle, but they are essential for long-term stability.

4. What KPIs should we track to measure success?

When dealing with rising shipping costs, the following KPIs are particularly important:

• Container utilisation (%) / CBM per container

• OTIF by lane and by supplier

• Average freight cost per cubic metre or per unit

• Detention and demurrage cost per container

• Number and cost of emergency shipments (such as air freight or premium ocean services)

These KPIs clearly show whether your collaboration is just “good conversation” or actually delivering results on the P&L.

5. Do smaller European retailers and suppliers also benefit from this approach?

Yes. Even mid-sized and smaller European furniture retailers can benefit significantly by applying the same collaboration framework with their main suppliers—using simple spreadsheets, fixed monthly calls and basic KPI tracking if more advanced systems are not available. The principles are the same: shared data, shared planning and shared responsibility for cost and service.

About the Author

I’m Sunbin Qi, CEO and founder of ASKT, a dining furniture manufacturer based in China with deep roots in the European market. Over the past 20+ years, my team and I have helped more than 200 furniture retailers and wholesalers across Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the wider EU build profitable, complaint-free dining chair and table ranges.

I was the first Asian CEO featured on the cover of möbelmarkt, Germany’s leading furniture industry magazine, for my work in combining innovative materials, strict testing and sustainable packaging with the commercial realities of European retail. Under my leadership, ASKT has supplied hundreds of thousands of seats per year to European customers, focusing on:

• Space-efficient, flat-pack-friendly chair designs that reduce shipping cost per unit

• Our own high-performance fabric collections that are waterproof, stain-resistant and breathable

• Zero-plastic packaging concepts that support both environmental goals and retailer logistics

Every season, I work directly with European buyers, logistics managers and product teams to fine-tune designs, improve container utilisation and stabilise landed cost—so that rising shipping costs become a manageable variable, not a permanent crisis, in their furniture business.