Before it terminated its operations on the 17th October 2008, the Far Eastern Freight Conference, or FEFC, as it was more commonly known, produced a tariff for charges pertaining to port charges here in the UK, as well as most other global ports.

The UK Terminal Handling Charge is something that both shipping lines ( FCL) and UK co-loaders ( LCL ) charge. The information below can be used as a guideline for how this charge is calculated. ukimports.org

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FEFC - Who?

The actual people who decided the Terminal Handling Charge was the 'Far East Freight Conference' or FEFC (www.fefclondon.com). According to their website, before ceasing its operations, their members were made up of the following shipping lines:

ANL Container Lines Pty Ltd
APL Co Pte Ltd.
CMA CGM SA
CSAV Norasia Liner Services
Egyptian International Shipping Co.
Hapag-Lloyd AG
Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Ltd.
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd.
Maersk Line
MISC BERHAD
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd
MSC - Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA
Nippon Yusen Kaisha
Orient Overseas Container Line
Safmarine
Yangming Marine Transport Corporation

Note. All the details and charges issued by the FEFC were outlined in the 'FEFC NT90' (FEFC New Tariff 1990), which, if you wanted to read it, was available from their website (all 208 pages it). ukimports.org

 

Estimating the LCL THC:

Being able to estimate the Terminal Handling Charge used to be a bit easier when all you had to do was look in the FEFC tariff. The first thing that you would have done was to ask the shipper of your goods, whether the shipping line that they usually use was on the above list. If it appeared on this list, then the UK Terminal Handling Charge (THC), will probably be calculated along the following lines:


Felixstowe (FXT) - GB£ 33.95 per Tonne or 2 Cbm
London ports - Tilbury (TIL) & Thamesport (THP) - GB£ 35.65 per Tonne or 2 Cbm
Southampton (STN) - GB£ 43.90 per Tonne or 2 Cbm

With these charges, there is usually a 'Handover/Document/profit share' (or similar add-on) charge added to the above rate (the above plus between GB£ 50.00 - GB£ 100.00 can be used as a guideline of the amount payable).

So, lets say for example, that you have quite a big shipment, e.g. 17 Cbm (your can get these sizes from your shipper / supplier). This size shipment would calculate as follows:

17 (Cbm) divided by 2 (Cbm) x GB£ 33.95 (port rate) = GB£ 288.58 + GB£ 80.00 (Add. charges for a larger shipment) = GB£ 368.58

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So what now?

Now its just a case of asking the UK agents how much they charge... easy! You will need to give them details of where the goods originate, and of course number of pieces, weights and sizes. ukimports.org

The FEFC also set charges for Full Container Loads ( FCL ), in the shape of the (monthly changing): Bunker Adjustment Factor ( BAF ) and Currency Adjustment Factor ( CAF ). See our FCL Charges page for more details.

 

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