OCEAN FREIGHT SURCHARGES

In sea freight, we have many different types of surcharges, with different charging methods and application characteristics. The following Ant Log article summarizes the most common surcharges, giving you more useful information about this area.

1. What is the sea surcharge?

Besides the cost of paying for each sea freight, the shipper or the buyer will have to pay an additional fee. This surcharge is applied in certain cases according to the regulations of each shipping line. The purpose of these fees is to offset additional costs or revenue reductions due to specific causes.

2. Common surcharges

The most common types are as follows:
- Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF): collected by shipping lines to offset costs incurred for fuel price fluctuations.
- Currency Adjustment Factor (CAF): shipping lines will collect from shippers to offset costs incurred due to foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
- Container Imbalance Charge (CIC): will be collected in case to compensate for the costs incurred due to the transfer of large quantities of containers from the excess to the deficient place.
- Change of Destination (COD): in case the goods owner changes the destination port, this fee should be collected to compensate for the charges of loading and unloading, transfer fee, container storage fee, road transportation fee, etc. ..
- Destination Delivery Charge (DDC): is collected to offset the cost of unloading goods from the ship, arranging containers in the port, entrance and exit fees. The shipper will not have to pay this fee as it arises at the port of destination.

- Panama Canal Surcharge: when transporting goods through the Panama Canal, the shipping company will collect this additional amount.
- Port Congestion Surcharge (PCS): is applied if there is congestion at the port, causing delays to the ship's schedule.
- Peak Season Surcharge (PSS): Normally, shipping lines transporting Europe and America will collect more when entering from August to October every year. This is due to the increased demand for transportation during this time (Christmas and Thanksgiving).
- Suez Canal Surcharge (SCS): applied when goods are transported through the Suez Canal.
- Terminal Handling Charge (THC): collected on each container to offset the cost of activities performed at the port such as loading and unloading, gathering containers on board,... This fee will be collected by the carrier. vessel, then the shipping line collects it from the shipper.

In addition to the above fees, we also have: goods document fee, automatic customs declaration fee, import goods summary declaration fee, delivery order fee, ...

Above are the common types of surcharges in sea freight. Hope the article has brought a lot of useful information and knowledge to you!