Put three freight quotes side by side and the temptation is to read the rate and stop. It is the only line that appears on all three in the same format, and it is the line every quote is designed to win on. It is also, on a typical international shipment, a minority of what you will eventually pay.
The rest is spread across origin charges, destination charges, surcharges that float independently of the rate, and a set of clocks that start running on arrival. None of it is hidden, exactly. It is simply on a different page, or on no page at all until the invoice.
What a complete quote contains
| Section | Typical lines | Who levies it |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Pickup, export customs, terminal handling, documentation, VGM | Origin agent and terminal |
| Freight | Base rate, bunker adjustment, security and war risk surcharges | Carrier |
| Destination | Terminal handling, CFS or unstuffing, delivery order, documentation | Destination terminal and agent |
| Customs | Entry preparation, ISF filing, bond, disbursement fee | Customs broker |
| Delivery | Drayage or line-haul, waiting time, tail lift or unloading | Road carrier |
| Duties and taxes | Duty, import VAT or sales tax, excise where applicable | Customs authority |
A quote that shows only the middle row is not wrong. It is answering a narrower question than the one you asked, and it will be the cheapest quote on the table for exactly that reason.
The lines worth interrogating
The chargeable weight basis
For air freight, ask which divisor the rate is built on. The IATA convention is 6,000 cm³ per kilogram; most express operators use 5,000, which makes an identical shipment twenty per cent heavier on paper. Two rates per kilo are not comparable until you know this. For ocean groupage, confirm whether the quote is per cubic metre, per tonne, or per revenue ton (the greater of the two).
Terminal handling, at both ends
Terminal handling charges are among the largest single items after the freight itself, and whether they sit inside or outside the quoted rate depends on the Incoterm and on the quoting convention. A rate described as 'all-in' should be tested against a direct question: all-in to where, and including which terminal charges.
Destination charges on LCL
This is where small shipments are lost. Container freight station handling, delivery order issue and destination documentation are levied per shipment rather than per cubic metre, so on a two-cubic-metre consignment they can comfortably exceed the ocean freight. They vary widely by port and they are entirely quotable in advance.
Free time
How many days the container may sit in the terminal before demurrage starts, and how many days it may stay out on hire before detention starts, are two different allowances with two different owners. Both are negotiable at booking. Neither is negotiable once the clock has started, and per diem rates escalate in tiers, so the tenth day costs several times the first.
Surcharges that float
Bunker adjustment and similar surcharges are revised on their own schedule, independently of the base rate. A rate agreed for a quarter is not a price agreed for a quarter unless the quote says so. Ask whether the figure is fixed or base-plus-surcharges, and until when.
The three questions that resolve most of it
- 01What is the all-in figure to my delivery address, excluding only duty and import tax? A quote that cannot answer this is quoting a leg, not a shipment.
- 02Which charges are estimates rather than fixed, and what would move them? Some genuinely are estimates (customs examination fees, waiting time), and a quote that pretends otherwise is the one to distrust.
- 03How many days of free time at destination, and what is the per diem after that? This is the single most common source of an invoice nobody planned for.
Why the cheapest quote is often the most expensive
Not because anyone is being dishonest, usually. It is because a quote that stops at the freight rate has transferred a set of unquantified costs from the forwarder's page to your ledger, and the ones it transferred are precisely the ones that are hardest to estimate: destination charges at a port you have not used, free time on a carrier you have not contracted with, a customs examination that may or may not happen.
A quote with more lines on it is not a more expensive shipment. It is usually the same shipment, priced honestly. The difference shows up eight weeks later, on the invoice, when the comparison can no longer be made.
Published 2 September 2026.
