What are Accessorial Charges?
Accessorial charges are added costs levied by shipping companies for the additional services required to ship a product from one point to another. These charges are often added to the shipping invoice and agreed-on net shipping rate. The requirement of additional handling equipment or cargo rerouting generally invokes these charges.
Significance of Accessorial Charges in an E-commerce Shipping and Delivery
Accessorial charges are a result of unforeseen risk management during transit. Some of the advantages of accessorial charges include:
- Delay management: Unforeseen risks such as possible congestion in a selected path and a requirement for specialized handling can catch a shipping company off-guard. Including accessorial charges allows a shipping company to act on the spot. It ensures minimal delay in transit times.
- Maintaining optimal service: Shipping companies have specific resources to provide optimal benefits. However, in the case of particular seller requirements such as oversized packaging or specialized handling, accessorial charges allow a shipping company to include new assets and maintain the quality of service.
Prerequisites of Accessorial Charges and How It Works
Accessorial charges come into play in specific conditions, such as its requirements. Some of these conditions are mentioned below.
- Packing and shipping oversized goods that a shipping company does not usually handle.
- Handling sensitive shipments that might require a freight forwarder to rent or buy new equipment.
- A shipping date being postponed by a customer, requiring a warehouse to shelf a product for a more extended period.
Use Case With Accessorial Charges
A seller placed an order with a freight forwarder to deliver a product from Phuket to Davao City. However, mid-transit, the customer changed the destination address to Manila. Therefore, the seller paid an additional ₱170 to reroute the shipping to the new address. The seller further levied this charge on the end user.