In this article, we published our point of view on what would make a good freight index. Here, we would look at some of the features to get you started on using National Freight Index.

The page hosts the freight indices and host of other useful features for the curious visitors. Here’s a look at some of the features on the page.

1. Filter tray: A user can view indices at 150 different combinations of truck type, origin zone and haulage distance depending on the use case.
2. Live section: This section gives users the live rates at the granularity chosen through the filters. The same is represented in the pegged form with the base month as Apr-18. A comparison with the previous month and the same month last year is also shown.
3. History section: Here, a 13-month historical is available trend and users can overlay fuel prices relevant to the filters chosen to draw insights.
4. Top lanes: This section gives a view of the prevailing market rates and a 6-month price history on some of the key lanes referenced to compute the index for the particular selection of truck type, zone and distance.
5. Rivigo Rate Exchange (RRE): The ticker gives users complete access to live full truck load rates across 7 million origin, destination, vehicle types in the country.

Under the ‘Insights’ section, users can read through the NFI team’s perspectives on the National Freight Index, and some of the interesting observations found by analysing NFI along with other macro-economic indicators in the country. The section will also have insights from ground teams and users, who can give more concrete explanations and context to some of the movements in the index. The NFI team will be sharing insights on a fortnightly basis, alerts to which users can subscribe to.

Users get an exhaustive experience while browsing through the NFI website. Going forward, several more insightful features we will be launched. One such feature is where enterprises can customize the weights used, build an index which is on the lines of their own business footprint and can simulate any potential savings on their road freight bill by moving from contract to spot rates. Another such feature is an on-ground mood reflector, broadcasting sentiments of users and their responses to specific questions deemed relevant, based on patterns observed on NFI.