Connecting index-linked contracts to IRM

If you manage carrier rates in Integrated Rate Management (IRM) and some of them carry an index-linked ocean component, you can connect those rates to the Index Contract Manager. Once connected, the ocean rate ICM calculates flows back into IRM automatically on each effective date, so your rate repository stays correct without you maintaining the same figure in two places.

This page covers how to link an IRM rate to an existing ICM contract, how to create a new contract from IRM, what happens once a rate is linked, and how to unlink.

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The short version

Linking connects an index-linked IRM rate to a contract in ICM. ICM becomes the source of truth for the ocean rate: it calculates the rate and pushes it into IRM on each effective date. The static parts of your rate, such as carriage, port fees and non-indexed surcharges, are never touched.

Before you start

• The IRM rate must be flagged as carrying an index-linked component. Flagged rates are the ones offered for linking.
• You need access to the ICM contract you are linking to. You must own it, or have been invited to it at any permission level.

Opening the linking widget

When you have unlinked index-linked rates, IRM shows a banner counting them, with a Link action. You can also open the widget by clicking the Ocean rate cell of any index-linked rate in the IRM rate table.

The widget opens on the To review tab. Your index-linked rates are grouped, by supplier and validity or by contract number, and shown as cards with the supplier, contract number, validity and lane count. For each group you see ranked ICM contracts as candidates, each with a match score shown as "[x] / [y] lanes match", where y is the number of lanes in your group and x is how many of them were found in that contract. From here you either link to a matching contract or create a new one.

Linking to an existing contract

Select the ICM contract that matches your group and link its matched lanes.

• ICM is the source of truth. Its managed ocean rate becomes the value shown in IRM from the next effective date, replacing your IRM ocean figure.
• Nothing is written into ICM. The contract's lanes, rules and pricing are unchanged.
• No double-linking. A lane that is already linked is not offered again, so a rate cannot be linked twice.

Creating a new contract

If no contract matches, or you would rather start fresh, choose Create new contract. This opens the ICM contract creation flow already seeded from your IRM rates.

• Pre-filled for you: start and end dates, contract number (if provided), supplier, and for every lane the origin and destination ports, equipment and initial rate. The initial rate is your index-linked component, carried over as a negotiated starting rate.
• You complete: contract title, description, buyer information, and the contract rules (reference index, market position, schedule, calculation method and negative-index behaviour).

When you finish, the new contract's lanes are linked automatically and the group returns to the widget in a linked state.

How a linked rate works

Once a rate is linked:

• ICM calculates the ocean rate from the contract rules and pushes it into IRM on the contract's effective date, not in real time.
• If the contract is edited, for example a schedule or calculation-method change, the rate updates in IRM on the new effective date that change produces.
• If the contract expires or is deactivated, updates stop and the last pushed value stays in IRM until you change it.
• Only the index-linked ocean component is updated. Everything else in the rate stays static and owned by IRM.

You can see linked rates in the main IRM rate table without opening the widget: the Ocean rate cell shows green with a linked icon, flagged surcharges show as "Index-linked" folded into the Ocean figure, and tooltips explain the connection.

Unlinking

Every linked lane appears on the Linked tab, with its trade lane, validity, equipment, supplier and the ICM contract it is matched to. You can filter by supplier and contract number, or search by trade lane.

To disconnect a rate, use Unlink on its row. Unlinking returns that IRM rate to the review queue, where you can link it again or use it to create a new contract. It does not change the ICM contract.

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Related reading: Index Contract Manager, How indexed rates are calculated, and What's included in an indexed rate.