GRI PSS THC CIC

Collection of surcharges for sea transportation

Due to various reasons of the ship, cargo, port and other aspects, the ship owner increases expenses or suffers economic losses when transporting goods. In order to compensate for these expenses or losses, the ship owner stipulates additional charges in addition to the basic rates, which are called surcharges or additional charges. There are many kinds of surcharges, and as some circumstances change, new surcharges will be cancelled or formulated. This article is to sort out the commonly used maritime surcharges at present, hoping to help you better understand maritime surcharges

GRI

The full name of GRI is General Rate Increase. It is generally used by South American routes and American routes. Due to various reasons such as ports, ships, fuel oil, goods and other aspects, the shipping company's transportation costs have increased significantly. In order to compensate for these increased expenses, the shipowner has added the comprehensive rate increase surcharge.

PSS

The full name of PSS is Peak Season Surge. This fee is usually charged by many shipping companies on the pretext when the freight is busy in the peak season, which is somewhat similar to the price increase of "Spring Festival" in China. The April to November of each year is generally the peak season of the world's freight transport.

EBS

The full name is Emergency Bunker Surcharge, which means emergency fuel surcharge. EBS is a surcharge of sea freight, which is generally settled in US dollars as sea freight. In case of FOB terms, the cost should be borne by the consignee, not the shipper, because EBS is not a local FOB cost. This fee can be paid on arrival or in advance.

EBS is generally a temporary surcharge to make up for the rapidly rising cost when the international crude oil price is rising rapidly, and the shipping company feels that it has exceeded its affordability.

THC

The full name of THC is Terminal Handling Charge. It can be further divided into OTHC-Origin Terminal Handling Charge and DTHC-Destination Terminal Handling Charge.

ORC

The full name is Original Receiving Charge. This cost is relatively complex, which is both different from and related to THC. ORC is only available in ports in South China, mainly in Guangdong, while THC is available in all ports (including ports in Guangdong). ORC and THC only charge one of them - if ORC is received, THC will not be received. If you receive THC, you will not receive ORC.

PCS

The full name is Port Congestion Charge. When the port is congested or particularly busy, the waiting time and time of the ship will be extended, and the berthing fees such as tug fees may also increase, which will cause a significant increase in transportation costs. In order to make up for this cost loss, the shipping company will charge the shipper a port congestion surcharge.

07 CIC

The full name of CIC is Container Imbalance Charge, sometimes also known as Container Imbalance Charge. This fee is a surcharge charged by the shipping company to compensate for the cost of transporting empty containers due to the imbalance of trade volume or seasonal changes that lead to the imbalance of cargo flow and containers.

DDC

The full name of DDC is Destination Delivery Charge. In DDU, DDP and other terms, this fee is only borne by the seller/shipper, otherwise it is paid by the buyer/consignee. For example, CIF clause - the buyer/consignee shall bear all costs and risks after the goods cross the ship's rail at the port of shipment, so all costs at the port of destination, including DDC, shall be borne by the buyer/consignee.

HLA

The full name of HLA is Heavy-Lift Additions, also known as Surge For Over Weight. It refers to a surcharge charged in order to make up for the increased operation cost when the weight of a single piece of cargo exceeds a certain standard (the standards specified by different freight forwarders or ship owners may be different), special equipment (such as heavy cranes) or special operations (such as the need for padding, reinforcement materials and manual binding or reinforcement) are required, loading and unloading operations are difficult, or special handling is required on the ship's stowage.

Generally, it is overweight if it exceeds 2 tons, 3 tons or 5 tons. The surcharge for overweight is charged according to the weight. The larger the weight, the higher the surcharge. If transshipment is required, one additional charge will be charged for each transshipment.

CAF

The full name of CAF is Currency Adjustment Factor. It is also called CAS-Currency Adjustment Charge. When the currency in which the freight is charged depreciates significantly, the shipping company will suffer great losses due to the depreciation of the currency. In order to make up for the loss, the shipowner will pass on the loss to the shipper/cargo owner by adding a currency depreciation surcharge.

LLA

The full name of LLA is Long Length Additional, also known as Over Length Additional or Charge For Over Length. It refers to a surcharge charged to make up for the increased operation cost when the length of a single piece of cargo exceeds a certain standard (the standard specified by different freight forwarders or ship owners may be different), special equipment or special operation is required, loading and unloading operation is difficult, or special treatment is required on the ship's stowage. Generally, if it is more than 9 meters, it will be considered as overlength. If it is a containerized cargo, it will be considered as overlength if it is more than 6 meters. The rate will be increased according to the length level.

ECRS

The full name of ECRS is Emergency Cost Recovery Surcharge, which can also be called "severe weather operation surcharge" - for example, in case of significant increase in ship transportation and operation costs caused by bad weather conditions and so on, this fee should be added.

CSC

The full name of CSC is Container Service Charge.

FAF

The full name is Fuel Adjustment Factor, which is generally used for Japanese routes. This surcharge is a bit similar to the temporary fuel surcharge above - essentially the same, but with a different name.

ENS

ENS (Entry Summary Declaration), the English abbreviation of "Entry Summary Declaration", refers to the European customs advance manifest rules. Since January 1, 2011, the EU has enforced the rule of "manifest declaration in advance" for all shipments to (all goods imported into the EU) or through (all transit goods, all goods in transit, all goods not unloaded on board, etc.) EU ports, which is applicable to all EU member states

SCS

The full name of SCS is Suez Canal Surcharge. The routes from Asia, Oceania, East Africa and other regions to Europe basically pass through the Suez Canal. When a ship passes through the Suez Canal, the shipping company needs to pay a certain amount of navigation fees to the canal authorities. The cost is charged by the ship owner from the customer through the Suez Canal surcharge.。

PTF

The full name of PTF is Panama Canal Transit Fee. In the same way as the Suez Canal surcharge, the route from the Far East and the west of the United States (hereinafter referred to as the West of the United States) to the east of the United States (hereinafter referred to as the East of the United States) generally passes through the Panama Canal. When a ship passes through the Panama Canal, the shipping company needs to pay a certain amount of navigation fees to the canal authorities, and this cost is charged by the ship owner from the customer in the form of the Panama Canal surcharge.

DOC

DOC=Document. In the freight forwarding industry, DOC has two fees. One is the DOC charged by the shipping company. The fixed fee is charged in RMB. The other is the DOC charged by the port of destination, which is also one of the basic fees of the port of destination. The agent at the port of destination is charged in US dollars, and each agent charges different fees.

AMS

The full name is Automatic Manifest System, which is the entry fee of automatic manifest system. It is used for the US-Canada route and is unique to the United States - all goods to the United States or goods transferred to other countries or regions through the United States must undergo AMS declaration (24 hours before shipment). AMS is also called 24-hour manifest system/anti-terrorism manifest system of the United States.

TAR

The full name is Temporary Additional Risks. This cost is a bit baffling. In fact, it can be simply understood as war surcharge, or another way of saying that it is war surcharge.

ACI

The full name is Advance Commercial Information. According to the regulations of the Canadian Customs, all goods to Canada or transferred to other countries through Canada must be declared to the Canadian Customs 24 hours before shipment, which is very similar to the American AMS.

GRI

Washing fee CC

The full name is Cleaning Charge, also known as cabin cleaning service fee and cabin cleaning fee. This cost is common in bulk cargo transportation.

Fuel surcharge

The fuel surcharge (BUNKER SURCHARGE OR BUNKER ADJUSTMENT FACTOR -- B.A.F.) is added when the fuel price rises suddenly.

transhipment surcharge

TRANSHIPMENT SURCHARGE: The surcharge charged by the ship owner, including transshipment fee and secondary freight, for the goods to be shipped to the non-basic port and to be transshipped to the destination port.

Direct surcharge：

DIRECT ADDITIONAL: When the cargo transported to the non-basic port reaches a certain volume, the shipping company can arrange direct navigation to the port without transshipment.

Port surcharge:

PORT ADDITIONAL OR PORT SURCHARGE: The surcharges added by the shipping company due to poor equipment conditions or low loading and unloading efficiency in some ports, and other reasons.

Port selection surcharge：

OPTIONAL SURCHARGE: The surcharge charged by the shipowner when the cargo cannot determine the specific port of discharge at the time of shipment, and it is required to select one of two or more ports in advance for unloading.

Deviation surcharge：

DEVIATION SURCHARGE: The surcharge charged by the ship when the ship has to make a detour to transport the goods to the destination port because the normal channel is blocked and cannot pass.。

Surcharge for changing discharge port：

ALTERNATIONAL OF DESTINATION CHARGE: The additional charge charged by the owner of the cargo to change the original specified port of the cargo with the permission of the relevant authorities (such as customs) and the consent of the ship owner.