Do freight forwarders charge for 'UK arrival'?

[SmithsCo]

First time getting some machinery shipped via sea freight from China (to the UK) and we've run into some troubles...

The Chinese supplier booked FS Mackenzie as the freight forwarder (charges payable by us) and they're trying to charge us for 'UK arrival fees' as follows:

Destination Terminal Handling Charges - 69.00
Agency Fee - 100.00
Destination Security Surcharge - 5.00
Import Currency Adjustment Factor - 104.40
Origin Handling Fee - 42.55
Low Sulphur Surcharge - 7.66
Port Congestion Surcharge - 32.40
TOTAL: 361.01

Is this normal practice? I was speaking with an HMRC Customs rep (regarding the matter of customs clearance) and they said they haven't heard of such fees being charged...

Thank you.

 

[japancool]

Pretty normal. What incoterm was your shipping booked under?

 

[SmithsCo]

Pretty normal. What incoterm was your shipping booked under?

FOB.

Can you please clarify something else for me? I understood from the HMRC rep that shipments arriving by sea should be customs cleared automatically, with the import duty/VAT charged to the agent's account (who would then charge us back). The implication was that goods would be customs cleared before we made any payments to the agent, following which they'd be stored in an ETSF warehouse in preparation for delivery.

I've tried looking up the process to see if the above is correct but couldn't find anything. So is it correct or was the HMRC rep clueless?

Thank you

 

[Mike Godwin]

Firstly, I have no wish to diss a fellow freight forwarder and this is not my intention.

You ask 'is this normal practice?' Certainly all those charges mentioned are common place throughout the shipping & forwarding industry at present. I suppose they can be seen as 'the new normal', with Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine/Russia conflict all having had a big effect on supply chains, as has been well documented.

How the above charges are distributed in the shipping process is another matter and this is distinguished by the choice of Incoterms in place. My advice is, know your Incoterms and do your due-diligence as to what charges (if any) are your responsibility in the supply chain.

Any UK freight forwarder will be able to quote you these. Fore warned is Fore armed as they say.

 

[Import Expert]

If you are shipping FOB terms then this is completely the right thing to do. However, this just means that the price you pay your supplier includes everything up to loading on Vessel in China. Normally you would then get a China Port to Door price from a UK forwarder of your choice that would physically arrange the shipping. So this is a little odd if you did not know charges beforehand - Sounds like it may have been C&F or CIF terms? I could be wrong.

In terms of the process, all companies will work differently but normally the forwarder would ask for customs clearance instructions prior to arrival. Customs clear the Goods. Invoice you for the shipping costs + and Duty/VAT, and once you pay those and the freight is available (container has unpacked at their ETSF) they will arrange delivery to your address.

 

[GraemeL]

The more you know about what will happen before it happens the better. Suggest that you would have been better off asking the FF in advance what would be charged and when, rather than getting the charge and then querying it with HMRC? If you were speaking to an HMRC rep on the phone, then miscommunication and assumption is so easy, as you would unconciously be hoping the responses to be what you wanted to hear.

It does sound like you decided that the FF had got it wrong, so what made you think that?

I have always found that FF's work hard and do their very best to aid and support all of there customers, even those who dont have 100 percent knowledge of how the system works.

 

[Red Wood]

FS Mackenzie are trash. Worst UK agent you can be nominated with, only behind Daygard. Rip off merchants.

They will add fees that are very difficult to argue against, so you just have to pay them and learn from it next time. Try to always get an all in price to UK DOOR.