A freight quote is really two questions stacked on top of each other: what unit are you billed on, and what does that unit cost today. Mix them up and a quote looks random; understand both and it's predictable. The golden rule underneath everything: you pay on the measure that fills the vehicle first — sometimes that's weight, more often it's space. Nexport Logistics quotes and books your sea, air and road freight through the Nexportal platform; here's how the numbers are built.
Layer 1 — what you pay on (the unit)
A truck, a container or an aircraft hits its limit on either weight or volume, whichever comes first. So carriers bill on whichever is greater — that's the whole idea. It just takes a different form per mode:
- Sea LCL (groupage) — W/M (weight or measure): you pay on the greater of 1 CBM or 1,000 kg, the revenue ton. A light, bulky pallet bills on its cubic metres; a small, dense one bills on its weight.
- Sea FCL — per container, flat. The box is the unit: you've bought the whole container, so the volume-or-weight logic doesn't apply — fill it or don't, the rate is the rate (within the max payload / VGM weight limit).
- Road LTL (groupage) — in the Netherlands the standard is loading metres (LDM): how much trailer floor length your cargo occupies (a Euro pallet ≈ 0.4 LDM, a full trailer = 13.6 LDM), because floor space is the real constraint — especially for non-stackable cargo. A weight cap (~1,750 kg/LDM) stops dense cargo riding free. (A volume-to-weight factor such as 1 m³ = 333 kg also exists, but it varies by carrier/country and is little used in Dutch LTL — treat it as a fallback, not the rule.)
- Air — chargeable weight: the greater of the actual weight and the volumetric weight (volume in m³ × 167, i.e. L×W×H in cm ÷ 6,000). Air punishes volume hardest, because aircraft run out of weight long before space.
So the same shipment can produce a different billable quantity in each mode. See Loading Metres, Container Dimensions and Sea Freight for the unit detail.
Layer 2 — what the unit costs (the rate moves)
The price per unit is a market, not a fixed tariff. A weekly liner service runs a fixed set of sailings regardless of how full each ship is, so when demand rises against that fixed capacity, rates climb — and carriers manage capacity (cancelling or "blank" sailings) to match supply to demand. The result is that a freight rate is a snapshot, and quotes carry a short validity for that reason.
- Spot vs contract. A spot rate is today's market price for a sailing, valid days to a few weeks. A contract rate is negotiated for a longer term (commonly 6–12 months) and held through the swings. On US trades these are formal service contracts filed with the Federal Maritime Commission.
- GRI (General Rate Increase). Carriers announce upward rate adjustments on a lane, effective from a date. On US trades the FMC requires 30 days' notice before an increase takes effect (decreases can apply immediately).
- FAK (Freight All Kinds). One uniform rate for mixed general cargo on a lane, regardless of commodity (hazmat, reefer and oversized are usually priced separately).
Surcharges — on top of the base rate
The base freight is rarely the whole bill. The common add-ons, as concepts:
- BAF (Bunker Adjustment Factor) — a variable fuel surcharge. It rose with IMO 2020, which cut the global sulphur cap on ships' fuel to 0.50% (from 3.50%) and forced costlier low-sulphur fuel.
- CAF (Currency Adjustment Factor) — covers exchange-rate movement (see currency, below).
- PSS (Peak Season Surcharge) — demand-driven, during tight-capacity periods.
- THC (Terminal Handling Charge) — in-terminal handling, at origin and destination.
- Congestion surcharge — when a port is severely delayed.
- Demurrage vs detention — the FMC distinguishes them cleanly: demurrage is charged when your container sits inside the terminal past its free time; detention is for holding the carrier's equipment outside the terminal too long.
- EU ETS surcharge — since 1 January 2024 the EU Emissions Trading System covers CO₂ from large ships (≥ 5,000 GT) calling at EEA ports; allowances phase in (40% of 2024 emissions, 70% of 2025, 100% from 2026), covering 100% of intra-EEA voyages and 50% of voyages to/from a non-EEA port. Carriers recover it as a separate ETS surcharge.
Currency
Ocean freight is typically quoted and billed in US dollars, which is exactly why the CAF exists. For a European importer that means the EUR/USD rate quietly moves your landed cost: a weaker euro makes the same dollar freight (and its surcharges) more expensive in euros.
Where the published numbers come from
Market rates are tracked by indices. The SCFI (Shanghai Containerized Freight Index) is semi-official — published by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, which measures weekly spot export rates out of Shanghai. The widely-quoted Drewry WCI, Freightos FBX and Xeneta indices are commercial benchmarks. They show the trend; your actual rate depends on lane, equipment, timing and volume.
Why air moves faster than sea
Air rates swing harder and quicker, and capacity is the reason: much of the world's air cargo rides in the belly-hold of passenger aircraft — about 59% of international cargo capacity in 2019. When passenger flying was grounded in 2020, total air-cargo capacity fell 23% almost overnight, and rates spiked. Ocean capacity moves more slowly, so its rates trend rather than jump.
How Nexport Logistics handles it
Nexport Logistics is a freight forwarder under the FENEX conditions. We work out which unit your shipment bills on across sea, air and Road, add the live rate and the surcharges that actually apply, and quote it transparently — per shipment, because the market moves. Want an up-to-date quote instead of a guess? Email info@nexportlogistics.nl and we'll calculate it with you.
Official sources: Federal Maritime Commission — service contracts · FMC — detention & demurrage · European Commission — EU ETS for shipping · IMO — 2020 sulphur cap · UNCTAD — Review of Maritime Transport · OECD/ITF — alliances in container shipping · IATA — air cargo tariffs & rules · Shanghai Shipping Exchange — SCFI. Related: Road · Loading Metres · Sea Freight · Air Freight