For international air transportation of oversized and overweight goods, how is the surcharge calculated?

In international air freight business, oversized, overweight and over-length goods cannot be handled according to the standard operation procedures for ordinary cargo. Airlines will charge a large-sized cargo surcharge. Many shippers do not understand the billing logic and think it is just a fixed fee. In fact, the conditions of being oversized, overweight and over-length can be combined and multiple surcharges take effect simultaneously. As a result, the final additional cost will be significantly higher than expected. Before shipping, it is necessary to understand the stacking rules to make a cost estimate.

Firstly, it should be clear that the size and weight limit standards for each airline, passenger aircraft / full cargo aircraft are different. The cabin doors of passenger aircraft and the cargo space are limited, and there are strict constraints on length, width and height; full cargo aircraft can accept larger sizes, but also set thresholds. Generally speaking, when the length, width and height of a single piece of cargo exceed the standard threshold of the airline's ordinary cargo, a large-sized cargo surcharge will be triggered. Note: The goods on pallets are measured by the overall external size of the pallet, not the size of the goods themselves.

There are two common billing modes for surcharges: The first is to charge a fixed large-sized operation surcharge per shipment; the second is to charge an amount per kilogram of the billing weight. When the goods simultaneously meet the conditions of being over-length, over-width and over-weight, most airline rules are to charge surcharges for multiple conditions simultaneously instead of only charging the highest one. For example, if the goods are both over-width and over-length, the over-width surcharge and the over-length surcharge are calculated simultaneously. Some airlines will also set a maximum limit for a single piece of cargo, and if it exceeds, it will be directly rejected. 

In addition to the surcharge for the large-sized goods themselves, there will also be derived chain costs. Many oversized goods cannot be accommodated in the flight slots, and the available flights will decrease. Only specific full cargo aircraft can be chosen, and the freight rate will be higher than that of ordinary ordinary cargo. Some channels will no longer offer bubble discount for oversized goods, and goods that could be baled originally will be charged based on the full volume weight under the condition of oversized goods. If the size exceeds the board slot limit, a custom container will be required, and there will be container usage fees. 

Here are several points that are prone to mistakes: First, customers declare the size of the product, ignoring the pallet and wooden frame, and the actual warehouse measures the overall size, which exceeds the limit, and the high additional cost is incurred after shipment; Second, it is assumed that the surcharge is charged only once, and do not know the multi-condition stacking; Third, when inquiring, the complete external size is not reported, and the ordinary ordinary cargo price is obtained, and after shipment, the large-sized surcharge is added.

For practical suggestions: When submitting the declaration, provide the complete length, width, height and single-piece weight including the outer packaging, wooden frame and pallet; confirm with the freight forwarder the size threshold and surcharge standard of the airline in advance, confirm whether the multiple conditions are stacked; provide separate data for each piece of goods instead of the average size of the entire ticket.

The surcharge for oversized and over-width goods follows a stacking logic, not a simple one-size-fits-all approach. Provide complete cargo data in advance, incorporate the large-sized cargo surcharge into the cost estimation, and avoid unexpected large additional expenses after booking the shipment.