With the pandemic throwing a wrench into all economies most companies had to give bare minimum rates to keep their businesses afloat. This brought in a decent amount of clients as rates were slashed left, right and center. But of course there was a catch as things got better the rates would go up and the shipping liners would then look into reclaiming the losses they made when they gave discounted rates.
Ocean carriers are becoming ever more creative with the names for huge surcharges they are loading on top of already colossal FAK rates. The latest to land on the desks of embattled transpacific shippers is Hapag-Lloyd’s ‘value-added surcharge’ of $5,000 per 40ft, ex China to the US and Canada.
The carrier told customers this was due to…
