Estimating Maritime Shipping Costs
The full cost for ocean shipping cannot be understood by consulting only freight indexes as these represent only a part of the cost. The index provides the port-to-port transport cost or at-sea cost of freight once a container or cargo is loaded aboard ship. It excludes a myriad of local costs, and costs charged by ports at points of departure and destination.  Accordingly, the full cost of maritime shipping can only be realized as the sum of the at-sea freight and the in-port costs.
1. At-Sea Freight: Cost to Ship Loaded CargoÂ
Three sources are available to estimate the shipping cost of cargoes already loaded aboard ship. First is index data. Drewry’s and Freightos maintain indexes, but these are often only for containerized cargoes while Baltic Exchange provides data for all maritime cargoes (containers, dry bulk, gas, oil, air freight, fuel, and for ship sailings called fixtures) and for all ship sizes. Examples are given in the figure above (Global Container Freight Index, 2023-2024). Rates vary widely by route so these sources should be consulted for recent information.
Container shipping costs rose after the Galaxy Leader seizure and then fell in late 2024 after the attacks ended (chart). The weekly container index for China to Europe or China to Mediterranean routes (not shown) continues at a level of $4,000 per 40-ft container to year-end 2024.
A second source for the cost of shipping is to obtain time charter costs from chartering companies or sources that follow daily departing and arriving ships. A source providing detailed fixture information (arrivals, departures) like the Baltic Exchange is Maritime Research Inc. (Parlin, New Jersey
[i]). The following table summarizes time charter cost for three sizes of ships, Handy, Panamax and Cape and includes cost of fuel. Chartering cost would include ship cost for all times under contract, including port time with in-port time highly variable. The largest ships are cape size ships with a displacement of 174,000 tonnes and daily fuel consumption of 59 tonnes. The fuel cost is average[ii] for 31 ports for very low sulfur fuel oil is $633/tonne.
[i] email [email protected]
Beyond the dangers of piracy, the true cost of maritime shipping extends far beyond freight rates alone. The next section of this series will dive into the often-overlooked in-port expenses—dockage, wharfage, storage, and stevedoring—and how these hidden costs shape global shipping economics.
Example costs below are average at-sea freight cost per tonne to ship iron ore by common routes in 2024.
 A third source is the port-to-port shipping detail provided by CostMine sources. These costs are distilled from fixture reports for the previous twelve months, but these exclude costs assessed in-port by the departing or arriving ports. These data are compiled in CostMine’s Transportation chapter, Ocean, Appendix D Tables 5-7. Tables contain charter costs for many ports worldwide for coal, coke, metallic minerals, industrial commodities, breakbulk cargoes and containerized cargoes. When compiling we add in-port time charter costs of 4 days to unload and 4 days to load, or 8 days total.
2. In-Port CostsÂ
Aside from shipping cargo already loaded just reviewed, a majority of costs fall into the categories listed below with this cost assessed upon shippers by the port for activities in the port, and includes dockage, wharfage, storage, loading/unloading, commonly called stevedorage and other charges. These four costs are assessed while the ship remains in port are published annually in the Costmine Transportation chapter, a part of Mining Cost Service, Ocean, in Tables 1 – 4, Appendix D. These costs are found in tariff documents published annually by each of the 20 ports followed. Each of the categories above refers to containers, dry bulk freight, breakbulk freight and machinery.
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- Pilotage and safe navigation, each levied worldwide to ship owner – Navigation is a charge to assist in safe passage through the port and for the provision of various services, such as navigation aids, emergency response, port operations and more. Pilotage, assisted by local ship’s pilot coming aboard having local knowledge of the port, to oversee for all movements in the port and is compulsory for all commercial vessels. Charge is normally levied as a rate per gross registered tonne of the ship. Example provided only for Australia (below).
- Dockage – Dockage is the cost of site occupation to ship owner assessed by the port at origin and destination to dock for loading or unloading at a port. Dockage is a per-day charge in dollars by foot (or meter) of vessel length or gross or net registered tonne or a flat rate per day. Dockage is assumed to be a part of the freight cost a shipowner would eventually pass on to the shipping customer for dockage charge at origin and destination ports combined. Dockage varies by length on a sliding scale, with greater expense for longer ships. Dockage for a panamax ship (740 ft) in Corpus Christi TX is $12.06 per foot per day or $1,0123 per day (table 1 in Appendix D).
- Wharfage – Wharfage is the charge per ton or by volume assessed at both departure and destination port to the shipper for freight that passes across port premises. It does not include loading. Wharfage cost differs by type of cargo, either container, dry bulk, breakbulk or machinery. Wharfage cost in Beaumont, TX is $60/tonne per container, $2.31 per tonne for dry bulk cargo, $3.03-4.97 per tonne for breakbulk cargo and $3.86 per tonne for machinery. Breakbulk is smaller or individual pieces or bundled cargo lashed together or often contained on pallets.
- Storage – Storage is the cost assessed to freight remaining at the port after a waiting period, with the waiting period of 30 days most common. Storage is assessed by metric tonne or by volume stored in covered or uncovered locations, and by type or cargo. Storage costs are very expensive and presented as dollars per tonne-per month. For example, at Savannah/Brunswick, GA storage for a container is $782 – $3,180 per month, storage for dry bulk is $9.92 per tonne-month, and storage for breakbulk and machinery are both $7.72 – $18.74 per tonne-month.
- Loading, unloading (or stevedorage) – Stevedorage is the cost to load or unload cargo. Charges for unloading/loading are often not quoted as a port charge as the task requires a shipper to hire a stevedore separately that also operates at the port. Examples for port loading/unloading from tariff at Tacoma, WA $134.78 per tonne for containers, dry bulk is $5.58 per tonne, breakbulk is $21.37 – $92.60 per tonne, and machinery is $63.58 per tonne.  Houston TX has an online calculator to assist shippers to estimate loading and unloading. Below are port charges for personnel and equipment rental.
Other In-Port Fees
- Charter cost while in port.
Loading and unloading time in port is estimated at 2-4 days for loading and 2-4 days for unloading. Twenty-four-hour operations at a port is unusual, so that loading/unloading usually occurs for just 8 eights per day. A normal estimate of in-port charter cost is 4 days loading and 4 days unloading.
- Handling, services and facilities charges.
Less common are additional charges called handling, and services & facilities charge levied at Savannah/Brunswick, Vancouver BC and Tacoma. These charges are added to loading or other in-port costs.
- Miscellaneous charges
Miscellaneous charges listed below are added to the cost of freight for shipping a 40-ft container. Maximum payload of a 40-foot container is 43,000 lbs with volume of 2,366 cubic feet. The freight cost quoted to ship a 40-ft container from Norfolk VA to Amsterdam in January 2025 was $1,150 while the cost of the other charges listed adds another $1,979 for total $3,129. The freight cost quoted to ship a 40-ft container from Los Angeles, CA to Hong Kong in January 2025 was $2,536 while the cost of the other changes adds $2,575 for total, $5,112. The table below provides details about how to ship a 40-ft container along two routes.
In-Port Charges Worldwide
Port of New South Wales, Sydney Australia (Australian currency)
Navigation: $0.7952 per gross tonne; Pilotage: Boarding fee $1,397 and $0.1642 per gross tonne; Wharfage: Levied for use of wharf and berth infrastructure, trade, and services at Rate x Revenue tonne or volume loaded is priced on application; Wharfage (Port of Yamba, Port of Eden): $2.07 per registered tonne (bulk cargo), containers $83 (full) or 42 (empty) Site occupation: Levied at $177 per hour x hours at berth for use of harbor’s common area
Amsterdam’s general rates (in Euros, where 1.00 Euro=US$1.04)
Increased 2.6% from 2024 Harbor dues: 0.601 per cargo tonne or 1.179 per gross tonne; containers, 0.417 per tonne; Berthage: 3.97 per day per meter length; Loading/unloading: general cargo, 0.487 per tonne, or containers, 0.287 per tonne.
Singapore marine port (in US dollars)
Loading/unloading cargo port dues: applied on a sliding scale change by length of time in port, 10 days: 0.275 per gross tonne, 15 days $0.575 per gross tonne, 20 days 0.875 per gross tonne.
Hong Kong (in US dollars)
Berthage: $14 per foot ($45.62 per meter) per day for 1st and 2nd day and $28 per foot ($91.25 per meter) for 3rd and subsequent day. Loading/unloading (depositing cargo): $3.50 per tonne, $90 per cargo container, mobile crane $9,680 per month.
The full cost to ship a 40-ft container (17.2 tonnes) is estimated by applying the miscellaneous, loading, and wharfage charges at each port to the cost of freight.
Similarly, shipping of bulk cargo by time charter is estimated as the loading, wharfage and miscellaneous costs at each port added to the at-sea freight cost. CostMine’s Transportation Appendix D provides current costs for time charter shipping of bulk freight cargos. For each example, the dockage (berthage) charges are unknown but are likely insignificant.
