Pricing & Surcharges
ISPS Surcharge
A security surcharge recovering the cost of compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code at ports and terminals.
In depth
The ISPS Code was introduced after 2001 and requires ships and port facilities to maintain security plans, access control, and monitoring. The costs are recovered through a small per-container surcharge applied at origin, destination, or both. It is a routine line item rather than a variable one, but it is frequently omitted from headline quotes and appears later on the invoice — one of several small charges that make an apparently cheap rate more expensive than an all-in alternative.
Key points
- Recovers ISPS Code security compliance costs
- Applied per container at origin, destination, or both
- Small, routine, and frequently excluded from headline quotes
- Ask for it to be included when requesting an all-in rate