A company plans to find an export agent and is concerned about hidden fees increasing costs, so it asks about the fees involved in export agency. The best answer points out that export agency fees mainly include agency fees collected as a percentage of the export goods amount, operation fees ranging from a few hundred yuan, financing fees calculated based on the amount and time of advance payment, transportation fees determined by transportation conditions, and certificate processing fees.
What are the agent export port miscellaneous fees, can anyone explain in detail?
Resolved
Our company is preparing to find an agent for export business, and we heard that port miscellaneous fees are one of the more important expenses. I'd like to ask everyone, what are the general components of agent export port miscellaneous fees? I hope to understand it in more detail, so that I can have a clear idea when negotiating cooperation with the agent, understand what each fee is roughly about, and avoid some unnecessary disputes later on. Friends with experience, please help answer, thank you!
Trade Expert Insights Answers
Agent export port miscellaneous fees include a relatively large number of items. Firstly, there is the booking fee, which is the fee charged for booking space with the shipping company. The booking fee varies depending on the shipping company and the route.
Secondly, there are THC fees, which are terminal handling charges, used for terminal loading, unloading, and handling operations. The standards are relatively fixed, but they may vary slightly from port to port.
There are also documentation fees, used for the preparation and processing of export-related documents, such as bills of lading.
Customs declaration fees are charged by the agency company when goods need to be declared to customs for export. The fees are generally calculated per shipment.
In addition, there may be operation fees, which cover various miscellaneous expenses during the agency company's daily operations. Some may also involve telex release fees, which are incurred if you choose to release the bill of lading by telex. Furthermore, some ports may have seal fees and so on.
Generally, there will also be port construction fees, used for the construction and maintenance of ports. They are usually calculated based on the weight or volume of the goods, and the specific standards vary for each port. This part of the fee is also a non-negligible item among port miscellaneous fees.
There are also storage fees, which are incurred if the goods remain in the port warehouse beyond the stipulated time. They are generally charged daily, and the rates are related to factors such as the type of warehouse and the type of goods.
Some agent export port miscellaneous fees may include commodity inspection fees. If the goods require commodity inspection, this fee will be charged, and the specific amount will be calculated based on the value of the goods, etc.
There may be fumigation fees. For some goods with wooden packaging, fumigation treatment is required to prevent the spread of pests and diseases, which will incur fumigation fees.
There are also terminal security fees, used to ensure the safety and order of the port terminal. The fees are generally charged as a certain proportion of the cargo value.
Sometimes there are crane fees. If special circumstances require additional operations during the loading and unloading of goods, crane fees may be incurred.
Some ports have weighing fees, used for weighing the goods, generally charged a certain fee based on the weight of the goods.
Some also have distribution fees, which are incurred when goods need to be distributed at the port.
If transshipment is involved, there may also be a transshipment surcharge, which is a fee charged due to the additional operations caused by transshipment.