[arctangent]

It's a hedge bet.

[wastedhours]

I don't claim to understand logistics - but will we see companies pay for slots on the trains as insurance, but not use them if everything's fine? Train company gets a deposit, shipper gets an insurance policy for semi-important payloads?

[arctangent]

I'm fairly sure that such an approach plays a part in what would be a mixed strategy approach to mitigating risk.

Other ingredients to the mix would include insurance and complex financial trades (e.g. derivatives).

[wastedhours]

Is there a second-market in freight spots already? As in, I'm guessing major manufacturers need to pre-buy to a certain degree and then might not use them all (or are the shipping companies so over the barrel at the moment that it's a non-issue?)