# Peak Season Surcharges Are Rising: How Should a Freight Forwarder Write the Quote?
Short answer: list surcharges on their own line, state the effective date and the price calculation date, name the container size and booking type, and give the customer the difference between booking now and booking next week. According to Weiyun.com's roundup published on 27 October 2026, Maersk raised the Far East to South Africa peak season surcharge (PSS) for a 20ft container from USD 250 to USD 1,000, a 300% increase effective 9 November 2026. Hugo.com reported the same day that UPS and FedEx will raise rates by 5.9% from 21 December 2026 and 4 January 2027 respectively. What went up is not the base ocean freight. It is the line next to it, and a quote that does not spell out that line will make customers believe you changed the price on them.
Why this round lands on surcharges rather than base freight
Late on a Tuesday afternoon, a quote sheet was on its seventh revision. The base freight line had not moved once. What kept changing were the lines underneath: surcharges, container notes, validity.
That is how this round of adjustments behaves. Base freight is the number every customer compares. Surcharges sit in the corner of the quote or get folded into a single total, which makes them easy to miss and easy to argue about later.
According to Weiyun.com on 27 October 2026, Maersk issued two peak season surcharge notices on 26 October 2026: for Far East Asia to South Africa and Mauritius, the 20ft PSS rose from USD 250 to USD 1,000 and the 40ft from USD 500 to USD 2,000; for China and Hong Kong to Kenya, the 20ft, 40ft and 45ft levels are USD 1,000, 2,000 and 2,000; to Dar es Salaam they are USD 1,200, 2,000 and 2,000. Within one notice, a container size difference doubles the number.
Parcel carriers moved in parallel. Hugo.com reported on 27 October 2026 that UPS will raise ground, air and international service rates by an average of 5.9% from 21 December 2026, and lift the minimum billable weight for additional handling from 40 lb to 50 lb; FedEx will raise US domestic and import-export parcel rates by an average of 5.9% from 4 January 2027. Both are annual rate revisions and apply broadly rather than to a single lane.
Why the price calculation date matters more than the increase
Disputes usually start on dates, not amounts. Maersk's notice states that non-SPOT bookings apply the rate in force on the price calculation date (PCD). The same shipment booked three days apart can carry a difference of several hundred dollars.
That single sentence determines the structure of a quote: booking type, container size and pricing basis must be written down, together with a note that rates follow carrier notices and are confirmed on the booking confirmation date. Without that line, the cost of explaining to a customer holding an older quote is far higher than the cost of two extra lines on the sheet.
Why a global forwarder is voluntarily giving up volume
Because what gets measured has shifted from box count to margin per shipment. Hugo.com reported on 27 October 2026 that DSV actively cleaned out low-price, loss-making customers in the third quarter, with combined air and ocean tonnage down 3% year on year, of which about 2 percentage points came from that deliberate adjustment.
A 300% surcharge increase on one side, a global forwarder giving up two points of volume on the other. Read together, the message is that the unit of account is no longer how many shipments you book but how much each one leaves behind.
Our own observation from customer account reviews is consistent: for accounts older than three years, the profit rarely disappears through freight rates. It goes through amendments, expedites and payment terms. One amendment adds roughly two hours of handling, one expedite disrupts an entire loading plan, and 60-day terms mean financing the customer's working capital. None of it appears on the quote sheet, and all of it appears in the margin.
Three changes to make on the quote sheet
First, put surcharges on a separate line with the effective date. The customer should see base freight plus the current PSS, marked as adjusting from 9 November 2026, plus other surcharges. When rates rise there is forewarning; when they do not, there is a record.
Second, name the container size and booking type. The PSS for 20ft and 40ft differs by a factor of two, and SPOT versus non-SPOT pricing follows different rules. This line cannot be left out.
Third, offer the difference between booking now and booking next week. On this Africa round, a 20ft container differs by USD 750 across the 9 November 2026 effective date. That sentence closes more business than repeating how competitive your rates are, because it answers the question the customer is actually asking.
How to answer a cheaper quote from a competitor
Ask three questions before discussing price. Which container size is that rate for; which surcharge standard and date does it apply; how are delivery date and delay liability defined. Once the three answers are on the table, the cheaper quote usually reveals where its cost sits.
One timing risk is worth flagging as well. JCtrans reported on 27 October 2026 that more than 50 European ports plan coordinated union action on 30 October 2026, with Italy registering a 24-hour national port workers' strike and Genoa, Marseille, Piraeus and Hamburg on the list. Unions estimate around 40,000 containers could be affected, though support for the action does not equal a full stoppage; actual impact depends on local strike notices and carrier arrangements. For cargo moving on European lanes this week, telling the customer one or two days of possible delay in advance costs far less than explaining afterwards.
FAQ
Are peak season surcharges billed separately from base freight?
Yes. PSS is charged on top of base freight by lane and container size, so a quote should show it as its own line to avoid the customer misjudging total cost.
Why does the price differ for bookings made on different dates?
Non-SPOT bookings apply the rate in force on the price calculation date (PCD). A booking that falls on either side of a rate adjustment uses a different standard, and the gap can reach several hundred dollars.
How long should a forwarder quote stay valid?
One week is reasonable, with rates confirmed on the booking confirmation date. When surcharges move frequently, split base freight and surcharges when locking longer terms.
What if a customer insists on a fixed long-term price?
Base freight can be locked while surcharges float according to published notices, with the adjustment basis and notification method written into the contract and records retained on both sides.
Does this round signal an upward freight cycle?
This article does not forecast the cycle. Surcharge adjustments are rate actions by carriers and parcel operators; freight direction requires separate analysis of capacity and volume, and data should come from carrier notices and public indices such as the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.
Closing
A quote is not valuable because it is the lowest. It is valuable because it still holds three months later. Writing uncertainty into the terms is safer than hiding it inside the price. Shanghai Naili Information Technology Co., Ltd has spent 10 years in freight forwarder digital marketing, and rate communication and quote terms are standard deliverables when we build lead generation and content systems for forwarders, alongside freight GEO and AI digital employee deployment.
One line worth remembering: “Anyone can copy a price. Nobody can copy the person who tells you where that price is going.”