Commercial Sales

Commercial Sales interview prep.

The library content Coach uses to tailor reports for this role. Generated reports personalise this against the candidate's CV + the firm's context.

Behavioural questions to expect

  1. Walk me through your career and ocean commercial sales experience.
  2. Tell me about an account or commercial situation you've owned with a measurable outcome.
  3. Why ocean commercial sales vs other shipping paths (chartering / operations / forwarder ops / shoreside logistics / commodity trading)?
  4. Why this trade lane or vertical — Transpacific / Asia-Europe / North-South / intra-Asia / reefer / project / Ro-Ro?
  5. Why the firm?
  6. What's your read on our trade-lane footprint, alliance position, and customer-segment mix?
  7. How would you describe our contract-season posture and surcharge architecture?
  8. Walk me through a NAC or service contract you've negotiated or supported — from RFQ to contract signature.

Technical concepts to master

  • Contract architecture — NAC + MQC + FAK + MARA

    NAC (Named Account Contract) · MQC (Minimum Quantity Commitment) + dead-freight · FAK (Freight All Kinds) · MARA filing + FMC + OSRA · Allocation + slot guarantee

  • Surcharge mechanics — BAF + LSS + CAF + GRI + PSS

    BAF (Bunker Adjustment Factor) · LSS (Low Sulphur Surcharge) · CAF (Currency Adjustment Factor) · GRI (General Rate Increase) + PSS (Peak Season Surcharge) · EU ETS surcharge + decarbonisation pass-through

  • Service product — schedule reliability + transit + IPI / RIP + reefer

    Schedule reliability + transit time · Transhipment vs direct call · IPI / RIP + intermodal · Reefer reliability + cold chain integrity · OOG (Out of Gauge) + project / break-bulk

  • Channel + alliance + capacity — VSA + blank sailings + digital + D&D

    Alliance + VSA — Gemini / Premier / OA / standalone · Blank sailing + capacity discipline · Digital booking + spot platform · D&D (Demurrage + Detention) revenue · BCO vs Forwarder vs NVOCC channel economics

Practical drills

  • You are quoting a BCO RFQ for 500 FEU / year on Shanghai-Los Angeles, 40HC dry, contract season. Base ocean target $1,800/FEU. BAF = consumption 0.85 mt/FEU × (VLSFO $620/mt − baseline $400/mt). LSS already embedded. ENS $25/TEU = $50/FEU. THC at LA $400/FEU customer pays. PSS planned Aug-Oct $400/FEU. Customer wants IPI rail to Chicago — rail + drayage $1,200/FEU. Free time at LA 4 days; customer historically averages 6 days, D&D tariff $150/day after free time. Walk through the all-in delivered rate and decide whether to win the RFQ given Drewry WCI Shanghai-LA spot $2,100/FEU + market PSS expectation $300-500/FEU.
  • You are KAM for a $50M annual Asia-Europe BCO retail customer. Their tender opens for May 1 NAC: they want 4,000 FEU/year at $2,200/FEU base + transparent BAF + 8-day free time at Rotterdam + IPI to Munich. Three lines bidding. Customer's current carrier offers $2,100/FEU + 6-day free time. Walk through your NAC strategy.
  • You are KAM for a $20M Transpacific BCO retail customer (1,500 FEU/year). It's Aug 1 peak season. Line announces $500/FEU PSS effective Aug 15 + $200/FEU PCS at LA effective immediately for port congestion. Customer NAC base $2,000 + BAF + LSS; no explicit PSS / PCS clause. Customer also has 25 boxes incurring D&D at LA — 4-day average over 4-day free time, $150/day tariff, total D&D liability $15,000. Customer pushes back on all three. Walk through how you'd handle each.

Smart-question anchors

  • Trade-lane footprint + service-string design — Transpacific / Asia-Europe / North-South / intra-regional, named flagship strings
  • Alliance + VSA position — Gemini / Premier / OA / standalone, 2026 reshape exposure, slot-swap mechanics
  • Customer base + channel mix — BCO direct vs forwarder vs NVOCC, top-vertical concentration
  • Contract architecture + MARA cadence — NAC vs FAK mix, MQC discipline, contract-season posture
  • Surcharge architecture — BAF / LSS formula transparency, GRI / PSS history + stick rate, EU ETS pass-through

Sourced from

Shanghai Shipping Exchange SCFI + CCFI + Drewry WCI + Freightos FBX + Xeneta XSI · Sea-Intelligence GLP (Global Liner Performance) + Alphaliner + Linerlytica · Journal of Commerce (JOC) + JOC Top 100 BCO + Lloyd's List + The Loadstar + Splash247 · Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) + Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) + FMC D&D rulemaking · BIMCO standard clauses (Sanctions, EU ETS, FuelEU) + IMO MEPC CII / IMO 2020 sulphur cap guidance · European Commission EU ETS Maritime + FuelEU Maritime guidance · Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS) Liner Trades + FIATA freight-forwarder references

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