Allocation, forward stock and the 9-week calendar we run with retail customers every year.
Peak season starts in February, when the first customers lock allocation. By June, our retail clients have agreed volumes by week, by lane, by mode. By August, the first forward-positioned stock is moving.
The calendar has three rules: nothing important ships on the last available sailing, every lane has a booked fallback, and a named person on each side owns the decision to switch. Nobody improvises in October.
The result is dull in the best way. In last year's peak, our retail volume rose 38% and the number of escalations fell by a quarter.