Invoice decoder
Ocean freight surcharges explained
On a typical ocean invoice the base freight is a minority of the total. The rest is surcharges — three-letter codes, each with its own formula, validity window and rules about when it may be applied at all. These references decode the lines you are actually paying and show where each one goes wrong.
BAF
Bunker Adjustment Factor
The fuel surcharge on ocean freight — how it is indexed, and the three ways it is overbilled.
How to read a surcharge line
- Every surcharge has a validity window. The one that governs is the version published for your sailing or bill of lading date — not the version live when the invoice was raised.
- Formula-driven surcharges (BAF, CAF) are recalculable. If the carrier publishes the index and the factor, the number on your invoice can be reproduced — or shown to be wrong.
- Check for double recovery. Fuel, emissions and low-sulphur compliance are frequently billed on more than one line for the same underlying cost.
- All-in and fixed-surcharge clauses in a service contract override the published tariff. A tariff-rate surcharge on a contract shipment is billed in error.
Publishing next
THC
Terminal Handling Charge
Origin and destination terminal handling, and where it is double-recovered against the freight.
CAF
Currency Adjustment Factor
Exchange-rate pass-through and the stale-rate problem.
PSS
Peak Season Surcharge
Seasonal capacity levy and the notice-period rules that limit it.
GRI
General Rate Increase
Lane-wide rate increases and how contract rates are meant to be protected from them.
Have the invoice in front of you?
Send it over. We recalculate every surcharge line against the carrier’s published tariff and your contract, and you only pay if we recover money.
Get a free invoice audit