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Two freight quotes for the same shipment can look very different, and the lower one is not always cheaper. Some quotes show only the base rate and leave surcharges and local charges to appear later. Others are all-in. Knowing how a quote is built lets you compare like with like.
The building blocks
Most freight quotes, whatever the mode, contain five kinds of cost.
1. Base freight
The core price for moving the goods on the main leg: ocean freight per container or per cubic metre, air freight per kilogram of chargeable weight, or road freight per load, loading metre or pallet.
2. Carrier surcharges
Charges that carriers add to the base rate, often adjusted monthly or quarterly. The most common:
- BAF (bunker adjustment factor): covers fuel price changes in sea freight. In air and road freight, the equivalent is the fuel surcharge. See BAF.
- CAF (currency adjustment factor): covers exchange-rate movements.
- PSS (peak season surcharge): applied on busy trades when demand exceeds capacity.
- LSS (low sulphur surcharge): covers the cost of low-sulphur fuel required by emissions regulations.
- ISPS surcharge: covers port security measures.
- Security surcharge: in air freight, covers cargo screening and security measures.
3. Origin charges
Costs before the main leg: collection from your supplier, export customs formalities, terminal handling at the port or airport of departure (THC), documentation such as the bill of lading or air waybill, and for LCL, the consolidation warehouse.
4. Destination charges
Costs after the main leg: destination terminal handling, document release, deconsolidation for LCL, import formalities, and delivery to your premises.
5. Service and optional charges
The forwarder's own service fee, and optional services such as cargo insurance, warehousing or special handling.
What is usually excluded
Even an all-in quote normally excludes:
- Import duties and taxes, such as customs duty and import VAT. These depend on the goods' classification, origin and value, and are paid to the authorities, not the forwarder. A forwarder can estimate them if you share the HS codes and values.
- Demurrage and detention, charged by the shipping line if containers are kept beyond the free time. See demurrage.
- Storage, if goods cannot be collected or delivered on time.
- Inspections, if customs or other authorities choose to examine the cargo.
- Waiting time, if a truck is kept waiting beyond an agreed period at collection or delivery.
These are not hidden charges if they are stated clearly. They are costs that depend on events after booking. A quote should list them and explain how they are charged.
Validity and what can change
Freight rates move. A quote should state how long it is valid, and on what basis it could change: for example if the cargo's weight or dimensions differ from those quoted, if the scope changes, or if a carrier's surcharge changes before departure for shipments booked after validity ends.
How to compare two quotes
- Check the scope. Is each quote door-to-door, port-to-port or something in between? Are origin and destination charges both included?
- Check the surcharges. Are BAF, THC and the others included, listed separately, or missing?
- Check the basis. Is the price per container, per cubic metre, per kilogram or per pallet? For air freight, is it on chargeable weight?
- Check the exclusions and validity.
- Check the service. Who will be your contact? How will you be updated? What happens if something goes wrong?
How we quote
Our quotes are all-in for the scope you ask for, itemised line by line, with each surcharge named, exclusions stated and validity shown. If a surcharge changes before departure, we tell you before it reaches your invoice.
Ready for a quote you can compare properly? Request one here.
{{TODO: review by a qualified person; align surcharge list with what appears on Cargo Captain's own quote template}}