How Should Interior Designers Be Thinking About Freight in 2025?

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Freight has always been one of those line items that doesn’t get much airtime in design conversations, but it shapes the outcome of every project. Once the orders are placed, everything depends on how and when those pieces move. Procurement agents and logistics coordinators know this better than anyone; after all, they’re the ones watching rates, tracking containers, and untangling surprises when shipments don’t show up on schedule.

Lately, the job has gotten harder again. As Business of Home reported last summer, spot rates for containers from Asia to the U.S. West Coast nearly doubled between March and July 2024, climbing from $3,628 to about $7,000 (Warren Shoulberg, BOH, July 2024). Rates into East Coast ports were even higher. That trend hasn’t disappeared in 2025, and designers are still feeling the squeeze on everything from freight quotes to local delivery surcharges.

ExFreight’s August 2025 outlook points to the same pressures in North America. In Canada, for instance, Full Truckload and Less Than Truckload rates are swinging with fuel costs, regional capacity issues, and a lack of standardized freight classification, which forces case-by-case negotiations (Diana Salazar, ExFreight, Aug 2025). Multiply that across cross-border shipments and international sourcing, and volatility has become the norm.

This isn’t the extreme scenario of the pandemic (no one’s paying $20,000 for a container), but the system is stretched. Canal delays, rerouting around conflict zones, and persistent labor issues all ripple down into the home industry. For firms, that means procurement staff are spending more time negotiating, consolidating, and pressing vendors to be transparent about what’s really included in their freight terms.

The truth is, freight is never background noise on a project. It’s one of the biggest pressure points on budgets and schedules this year, and ignoring it can put a project underwater before installation even begins.

Why Rates Are Rising (Again)

Unfortunately for design firms everywhere, freight volatility is no mere memory of the pandemic. It’s still affecting projects in 2025.

Panama Canal Restrictions

The Panama Canal continues to operate under fluctuating draft restrictions after years of drought, which means many ships can’t carry full loads. Fewer crossings and reduced capacity push costs higher, especially for cargo bound for the U.S. East Coast.

Forwarders report that the canal has not yet returned to pre-2020 throughput, and some vessels are bypassing entirely, adding weeks to delivery windows and inflating costs along the way. Back in April, Reuters reported that “Panama Canal traffic fell to 33.7 ships per day” the previous month.

Global Politics

At the same time, global politics keeps reshaping trade routes. The ongoing instability around the Suez has forced many Asia-Europe vessels to reroute around Africa, tying up capacity system-wide and making ocean space scarcer even on transpacific lanes.

Carriers themselves are part of the story. As alliances break and re-form, blank sailings and schedule disruptions are leaving importers with fewer reliable choices. Rumors still persist that some of the big players quietly hold capacity back to keep rates elevated, but that could be considered a bit of a conspiracy theory.

Domestic Trucking

Closer to home, trucking adds another unfortunate layer of unpredictability. Canadian shippers, for example, operate without a standardized freight classification system, so rates are negotiated shipment by shipment, often leaving smaller buyers at a disadvantage.

Add in cross-border tariff jitters and fuel surcharges that rise and fall with global oil markets, and you get a cost structure that feels less like a stable baseline and more like a moving target.

What Procurement Staff Actually Control

Designers can’t change canal water levels or redirect ships away from war zones. But procurement teams do have levers they can pull, and those levers matter. You can negotiate the terms of freight instead of just accepting a vendor’s “delivered” rate. You can ask vendors to consolidate shipments so you’re not paying for half-empty containers. You can even decide whether to go with the vendor’s carrier or shop it through your own broker for a better deal.

These may sound like small wins, but they add up. A slightly better rate here, a consolidated shipment there, and suddenly your budget feels just a little less tight. A little breathing room can be invaluable. Procurement agents know this; it’s why they’re worth every penny.

The Risks of Looking Away

Too many firms treat freight as if it were a neutral pass-through expense, something you simply bill back to the client. That’s dangerous. When costs spike mid-project, the hit doesn’t just land on the client; it erodes your margin too. And when delays stack on top of each other, it’s your install schedule and reputation on the line.

A “cheap” quote full of hidden surcharges. A rerouted container that adds three weeks to transit. A delivery so late it triggers penalties on a commercial job. Procurement staff have seen these traps before, and they know when to raise the red flag. Without them, firms are flying blind.

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Where to Push Back

Vendors love to tuck freight into a neat line item on the invoice. Designers love to move on. But that’s exactly where things slip through the cracks and then a giant chasm appears in front of your client. Ask questions: Are you paying the vendor’s contract rate, or the retail freight rate? What happens if the order splits into two shipments? Is that delivery fee padded to cover their warehouse costs?

Don’t stop there if you have additional needs. Brokers exist for a reason, and digital freight platforms are making it easier than ever to compare rates in real time. ExFreight’s Exfresso system, for example, lets shippers pull instant quotes and track shipments across modes without waiting for a rep to email back. That kind of visibility can be the difference between a freight bill that surprises you and one you’ve already budgeted for.

How to Explain It to Clients

Clients rarely think about freight until it derails their install. That’s when the finger-pointing starts. The best defense is to set expectations early and often. Freight isn’t just “the truck.” It’s ocean transit, customs clearance, trucking, warehousing, and finally white-glove delivery, all linked together, all vulnerable to disruption. Costs move with fuel, politics, even the weather.

One way to frame it is that “We can control what we order. We can’t control canals or ports. What we can do is negotiate, consolidate, and monitor every step so your project stays as close to plan as possible.” Clients may not love hearing that, but they’ll respect the candor and they’ll be less shocked when volatility affects their project.

Final Thoughts

Freight is no longer the invisible line item we could rely on to stay predictable and under the radar. In 2025 it’s still one of the most unpredictable forces shaping project budgets and timelines five years out from the start of the pandemic. Rates spike, routes shift, deliveries miss their windows…

That doesn’t mean firms are powerless. The most resilient ones are leaning even more on procurement staff, not less. They’re asking tougher questions about shipping terms, exploring digital freight platforms for transparency, and treating logistics as part of the design conversation instead of an afterthought.

For clients, that shift matters too. Clearer communication about freight upfront builds trust when the inevitable disruption hits. And for procurement agents and coordinators, it underscores just how central their role has become. The work may never be glamorous, but it’s decisive.

The truth is, freight moves the entire project, not just a few furniture pieces.

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
Our contributors include experienced designers, firm owners, design writers, and other industry professionals. If you’re interested in submitting your work or collaborating, please reach out to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@designdash.com.