Freight Surcharge Policy
You will no doubt be aware from various news stories that there are considerable rising costs in sea freight caused by the current security situation around the Suez Canal.
Rates started to rise sharply from mid-December and are now stabilising albeit at a much higher rate. Normal shipping costs for a 20’ container are in the region of £1200 port to port and our January average was £3950-more than triple the costed rate.
We, therefore, have no alternative other than to pass these costs onto customers and will continue with the freight surcharge policy that was implemented after the last shipping crisis in 2022. In order to be as transparent as possible, we surcharge per kg and these will be automatically applied to every invoice from the 1st or March. We base these surcharges on the shipping rates quoted on the Freightos Baltic Index from China Eastern to North Europe (FBX11).
We will continue to surcharge on the lowest weight of each unit size based on average shipping costs two months prior to the order date. i.e. an order placed in March will have a surcharge applied for average shipping costs in January which was the realistic date of shipping for the goods in question. As we are looking two months in arrears we will be able to inform you at the beginning of February exactly what surcharge will be applicable for orders placed in March. This has been added to the website and will be updated every month (click here).
‘Surcharge Rate Explanation’ gives a full explanation of how the surcharge policy is constructed.
We realise that this is unwelcome at what is already a more challenging trading period however like many other suppliers we simply cannot afford to absorb shipping costs so far out of the norm in what is effectively a 350% increase at the current quoted rates.
We thank you for your continued understanding during this difficult time and look forward to more normality in shipping rates the not too distant future.