Senghor Logistics has been focusing on door to door sea & air shipping from China to USA for years, and among the cooperation with customers, we find that some customers are not aware of charges in the quotation, so below we would like to make an explaination of some common charges for easier understanding.
Base Rate:
(Basic cartage without fuel surcharge), not including chassis fee, as the head of the truck & chassis are separate in USA. Chassis should be rent from either trucking company or carrier or rail company.
Fuel Surcharge:
Final Cartage Fee = Base rate + Fuel surcharge,
due to the big influction of price of fuel, the trucking companies add this as an adjudgement, to avoid the loss.
Chassis Fee:
This is charged by day, from the day picking up till the day returning.
Usually being charged minimum 3 days, around $50/day (This can be changed a lot when lacking of chassis, or per the longer time being used.)
Pre-pull Fee:
Means pick up the full container out of the wharf or railway yard in advance (usually at night).
The charge is generally between $150 and $300, which usually occurs under the following two circumstances.
1, The warehouse requires the goods to be delivered to the warehouse in the morning, and the tow truck company cannot guarantee the time to pick up the container in the morning, so they usually pick up the container from the dock one day in advance and put it in their own yard, and deliver the goods directly from their own yard in the morning.
2, The full container are picked up on the day of the LFD and placed at the towing company's yard to avoid high storage charges in the terminal or rail yard, as this is usually higher than the pre-pull fee + the outer container yard fee.
Yard Storage Fee:
Occurred when full container was pre-pulled (as above situation) and store in the yard before delivery fee, which usually around $50~$100/container/day.
Except the storage before full container was delivered, another situation may cause this fee because after the empty container is available from the customer's warehouse, but couldn't get a returning appointment from terminal or appointed yard (usually happened when terminal/yard is full, or other off time like weekend, holiday, as some ports/yards work only in working hours.)
Chassis Split Fee:
Generally speaking, the chassis and the container are placed in the same dock. But there are also special cases, such as the following two kinds:
1, There is no chassis at the dock. The driver has to go to the yard outside the dock to pick up the chassis first, and then to pick up the container inside the dock.
2, When the driver returned the container, he could not return it to the dock for various reasons, so he returned it to the storage yard outside the dock according to the instructions of the shipping company.
Port Waiting Time:
The fee charged by the driver when waiting in the port, it is easy to occur when port meet serious congestion. It is generally free within 1-2 hours, and charged by $85-$150/hour thereafter.
Drop/Pick Fee:
There are usually two ways for unloading when delivery in the warehouse:
Live unload --- After container was delivered in the warehouse, warehouse or consignee make unloading and driver returned with chassis & empty container together.
It may occur driver waiting fee (driver detention fee), usually 1-2 hours free waiting, and $85~$125/hour thereafter.
Drop --- Means driver live the chassis and full container in the warehouse after delivery, and after they were notified empty container ready, driver go another time to pick up chassis and empty container. (This usually occurs when the address is close to port/rail yard, or cnee cannot make unloading the same day or before off time.)
Pier Pass Fee:
The City of Los Angeles, in order to ease the traffic pressure, charges the collection trucks to pick up containers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach at a standard rate of USD50/20 feet and USD100/40 feet.
Tri-axle Fee:
A tricycle is a trailer with three axles. For example, the heavy dump truck or tractor is usually equipped with a third set of wheels or drive shaft to carry heavy cargo. If the shipper's cargo is heavy cargo such as granite, ceramic tile, etc., the shipper will generally require the use of three-axle truck. In addition, in order to ensure that the weight of the cargo complies with the legal requirements, the tow truck company must use a three-axle frame. In these cases, the tow truck company must charge the shipper this additional fee.
Peak Season Surcharge:
Occurred when in peak season, such as Christmas or New Year, and due to lacking of driver or trucker, is generally $150-$250 per container.
Toll Fee:
Some docks, due to location, may have to take some special roads, then the tow company will charge this fee, from NewYork, Boston, Norfolk, Savanna is more common.
Residential Delivery Fee:
If the unloading address is in residential areas, this fee will be charged. The main reason is that the building density and road complexity of residential areas in the United States are much higher than that of warehouse areas, and the driving cost is higher for drivers. Usually $200-$300 per run.
Layover:
The reason is that there is a limit on the working hours of truck drivers in the United States, which cannot exceed 11 hours per day. If the delivery place is far away, or the warehouse is delayed for a long time to unload, the driver will work more than 11 hours, this fee will be charged, which is generally $300 to $500 per time.
Dry Run:
Means truckers are not able to get the containers after reach port, but still a trucking fee occurred, usually occurs when:
1, Port congestion, especially during peak season, ports are so crowded that drivers cannot pick up goods in the first place.
2, The goods have not been released, the driver arrived to pick up the goods but the goods are not ready.
Welcome to contact us whenever you have any questions.
Go inquire to us!
Post time: May-05-2023
