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Freight forwarding · road, sea, air · every surcharge published before the quote
The rate is not the price. Everything else that reaches the invoice is on this page.
In freight the quoted number is the easy half. What costs you is the fourteen charges that turn up afterwards — waiting time, a tail lift, a customs entry, a week of port storage. All fourteen are listed below with what triggers each one, before you ask us for anything.
14Accessorial charges, all of them listed
4 hrsQuote turnaround, working hours
2 hrsFree loading and unloading time
0Charges that are not on this page
The last number is the one worth keeping. Put your own figures in the first three — and if you cannot honestly claim the fourth, change the page rather than the promise.
Everything that can be added to a linehaul rate
Not a summary and not the common ones. This is the whole schedule, with the thing that triggers each charge, because a surcharge you were told about is a cost and a surcharge you were not is an argument.
Fuel surcharge — A percentage of the linehaul, moved monthly against a published index rather than by us. Ask which index, and check the month it was last set — that answer separates forwarders faster than any rate does
Waiting time at collection or delivery — Two hours free, then charged by the hour. The clock starts at the booked time, not at arrival, so a driver early is not a driver waiting
Tail lift — Charged where there is no dock and no forklift at either end. Cheap to say at booking, expensive to discover on the kerb
Failed delivery and re-delivery — Nobody there, no booking reference, or a vehicle that cannot physically reach the door. The re-run is a second delivery and is priced as one
Booking-in and timed delivery — Where the consignee's goods-in needs a slot. Some retailers fine the carrier for missing one, and that fine travels
Out of gauge and overlength — Anything past a standard pallet footprint or over the height. Measure the pallet after it is wrapped rather than before
Customs entry — Per entry, plus a smaller charge per additional commodity line. A twelve-line invoice is not one entry's work
Duty and VAT deferment — Where we advance the money to release the goods. A percentage of the amount advanced, and it is a credit facility rather than a service
Port storage, demurrage and detention — Free days at the terminal, then a daily rate that steps up. Three different clocks with three different owners — the terminal, the shipping line and the haulier
Congestion and terminal handling — Set by the port and the line. Passed on at cost with the tariff attached, never marked up
Currency adjustment — On any leg quoted in a currency you are not paying in. Ask for the rate and the date it is fixed to
Hazardous goods — Classified freight carries a surcharge and a documentation charge, and some classes cannot travel by air at all. Declare it at the quote, not at the depot
Temperature control — Reefer equipment, plus a monitoring charge where a data logger is required for the receiver
Cargo insurance — A percentage of the value you insure. Optional, separate from the freight, and the section below explains why it is not a luxury
Waiting time at collection or delivery — Two hours free, then charged by the hour. The clock starts at the booked time, not at arrival, so a driver early is not a driver waiting
Tail lift — Charged where there is no dock and no forklift at either end. Cheap to say at booking, expensive to discover on the kerb
Failed delivery and re-delivery — Nobody there, no booking reference, or a vehicle that cannot physically reach the door. The re-run is a second delivery and is priced as one
Booking-in and timed delivery — Where the consignee's goods-in needs a slot. Some retailers fine the carrier for missing one, and that fine travels
Out of gauge and overlength — Anything past a standard pallet footprint or over the height. Measure the pallet after it is wrapped rather than before
Customs entry — Per entry, plus a smaller charge per additional commodity line. A twelve-line invoice is not one entry's work
Duty and VAT deferment — Where we advance the money to release the goods. A percentage of the amount advanced, and it is a credit facility rather than a service
Port storage, demurrage and detention — Free days at the terminal, then a daily rate that steps up. Three different clocks with three different owners — the terminal, the shipping line and the haulier
Congestion and terminal handling — Set by the port and the line. Passed on at cost with the tariff attached, never marked up
Currency adjustment — On any leg quoted in a currency you are not paying in. Ask for the rate and the date it is fixed to
Hazardous goods — Classified freight carries a surcharge and a documentation charge, and some classes cannot travel by air at all. Declare it at the quote, not at the depot
Temperature control — Reefer equipment, plus a monitoring charge where a data logger is required for the receiver
Cargo insurance — A percentage of the value you insure. Optional, separate from the freight, and the section below explains why it is not a luxury
What a transit time counts, and what it quietly does not
It starts at collection, not at the order — A booking placed on Monday afternoon for a Wednesday collection is a Wednesday shipment. The transit clock has not begun
Working days, and the destination's working days — Public holidays at the far end are not our holidays and are not in the number. We will tell you when one falls inside your window
It does not include customs clearance — This is the one that catches people. Clearance depends on your paperwork and on an authority's queue, and neither is a transit time
Port to port is not door to door — A sea quote almost always means port to port. Ask for the door figure and the difference will be a week you did not budget
A sailing schedule is the carrier's, not a promise — Vessels are delayed, omit ports and change rotation. We quote the schedule we are given and tell you the day it moves
Groupage can be rolled — A part container waits for a full one. If the date matters more than the price, a full container is the honest answer and we will say so at the quote
Express is a different service, not a faster version of this one — Dedicated vehicle or an air charter, priced accordingly. Ask for it by name rather than asking us to try
Working days, and the destination's working days — Public holidays at the far end are not our holidays and are not in the number. We will tell you when one falls inside your window
It does not include customs clearance — This is the one that catches people. Clearance depends on your paperwork and on an authority's queue, and neither is a transit time
Port to port is not door to door — A sea quote almost always means port to port. Ask for the door figure and the difference will be a week you did not budget
A sailing schedule is the carrier's, not a promise — Vessels are delayed, omit ports and change rotation. We quote the schedule we are given and tell you the day it moves
Groupage can be rolled — A part container waits for a full one. If the date matters more than the price, a full container is the honest answer and we will say so at the quote
Express is a different service, not a faster version of this one — Dedicated vehicle or an air charter, priced accordingly. Ask for it by name rather than asking us to try
What we move
Road — part and full loads
Domestic and cross-border groupage, part loads and full trailers, with the surcharge schedule above applying to all three.
Sea — full container
FCL door to door or port to port. You get the sailing, the rotation and the free-days figure at the quote, not after booking.
Sea — groupage
LCL for anything under a container, priced per cubic metre or per tonne, whichever is greater. Rolling risk stated on the quote.
Air
Airport to airport or door to door, chargeable weight by volume where that is higher. Restricted and hazardous classes checked before we quote.
Rail and intermodal
Where the lane supports it — slower than air, cheaper than road, and steadier than sea on schedule. We will say when it is not worth it.
What we do not move
Household removals, personal effects, live animals, cash and bullion, and anything we are not licensed for. A no on this page is quicker than a no on the phone.
Swap these for your own lanes and equipment. The sixth panel is the one that saves you the most time and it is the one most forwarders delete.
Customs, and who is actually responsible
We can act for you and we can advise you. We cannot take the liability off you, and any forwarder who says otherwise is describing something that does not exist.
You are the importer of record unless it is written down otherwise — That means the declaration is made in your name and the liability for it is yours. It is worth reading that sentence twice before the first shipment rather than after an audit
The commodity code is your declaration — We will help you find it and we will flag one that looks wrong. We will not choose it for you, because the customs authority holds the declarant to it and the declarant is you
The customs authority decides classification, value and duty — Not us and not the seller. A ruling from them is the only answer that binds anybody, and it is free to ask for one
The Incoterm decides who pays what — Name the term on the order, not in an email afterwards. Half the disputes in this trade are two parties who each thought the other had agreed to DAP
An understated invoice value is an offence, not a shortcut — It is also the commonest thing a supplier will offer to do for you. Decline it in writing so there is a record of the decline
What we need before anything can be cleared — Commercial invoice, packing list, commodity codes, your registration number, and the Incoterm. Missing one of the five is the usual reason a container is sitting on a storage clock
The commodity code is your declaration — We will help you find it and we will flag one that looks wrong. We will not choose it for you, because the customs authority holds the declarant to it and the declarant is you
The customs authority decides classification, value and duty — Not us and not the seller. A ruling from them is the only answer that binds anybody, and it is free to ask for one
The Incoterm decides who pays what — Name the term on the order, not in an email afterwards. Half the disputes in this trade are two parties who each thought the other had agreed to DAP
An understated invoice value is an offence, not a shortcut — It is also the commonest thing a supplier will offer to do for you. Decline it in writing so there is a record of the decline
What we need before anything can be cleared — Commercial invoice, packing list, commodity codes, your registration number, and the Incoterm. Missing one of the five is the usual reason a container is sitting on a storage clock
Carrier liability is by weight, not by value
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in freight, so it gets its own band rather than a line in the terms. A carrier's liability is capped per kilo by an international convention. It has nothing to do with what the goods are worth.
Road, international — The CMR convention caps liability at 8.33 special drawing rights per kilo. That figure is fixed by the convention, not by us, and it has not moved in decades
Sea — Hague-Visby caps it at 666.67 SDR per package or 2 SDR per kilo, whichever is greater. Which of the two applies depends on how the goods are packed and declared
Air — The Montreal convention sets a per-kilo cap that is reviewed every five years. Ask for the figure in force on your shipment date rather than trusting a number on any website, including this one
What that means with a real box — A twelve-kilo carton holding four thousand dollars of electronics is covered for roughly a hundred and fifty. That is not a loophole — it is the deal every carrier in the world trades on
Cargo insurance is a separate product — Priced on the value you declare, covering the value you declare. It is the only thing that pays what the goods are worth, and it usually costs less than the tail-lift charge
Going uninsured is a decision, so we write it down — If you decline cover, the confirmation says you declined it. Nobody wants that sentence read back to them, which is exactly why it is there
Claims — Sign the delivery note damaged or unexamined — a clean signature ends most claims before they start, and no carrier waives that for anybody. Then tell us in writing within the notice period on the consignment note
Sea — Hague-Visby caps it at 666.67 SDR per package or 2 SDR per kilo, whichever is greater. Which of the two applies depends on how the goods are packed and declared
Air — The Montreal convention sets a per-kilo cap that is reviewed every five years. Ask for the figure in force on your shipment date rather than trusting a number on any website, including this one
What that means with a real box — A twelve-kilo carton holding four thousand dollars of electronics is covered for roughly a hundred and fifty. That is not a loophole — it is the deal every carrier in the world trades on
Cargo insurance is a separate product — Priced on the value you declare, covering the value you declare. It is the only thing that pays what the goods are worth, and it usually costs less than the tail-lift charge
Going uninsured is a decision, so we write it down — If you decline cover, the confirmation says you declined it. Nobody wants that sentence read back to them, which is exactly why it is there
Claims — Sign the delivery note damaged or unexamined — a clean signature ends most claims before they start, and no carrier waives that for anybody. Then tell us in writing within the notice period on the consignment note
The rate card and the accessorial schedule
The same fourteen charges as the section above, in a form your finance team can file and check an invoice against. Free time, step rates, notice periods and the index the fuel surcharge follows.
Get a quote
Answer these and the number that comes back includes the surcharges that apply to your shipment, itemised. If something on the list above rules us out, say so and we will name a forwarder who does that lane properly.
Request a freight quote
The insurance value is asked for because cover is priced on it, and because a blank there is how a shipment goes out on convention limits by accident.
Live preview — every color, word and block is editable after you pick it.