A base ocean freight rate is never the number on the final invoice. BAF, terminal handling, documentation, and ISF filing all stack on top, and none of them are optional on a real shipment.
BAF moves with bunker fuel prices
The Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF, sometimes called a fuel surcharge or EBS) exists because ocean carriers can’t lock in a fuel cost months in advance the way a flat rate implies. It’s recalculated periodically and applied as a percentage on top of the base freight, so the same base rate can produce a different all-in cost from one month to the next purely from BAF movement.
THC is charged at both ends
Terminal Handling Charges apply at both the origin port and the destination port, covering the cost of moving a container on and off the vessel, through the terminal. Quotes sometimes bundle origin and destination THC into a single line, sometimes split them, either way confirm both are actually included before comparing two quotes against each other.
LCL and FCL are priced completely differently
LCL is billed per cubic meter of your actual cargo (plus a minimum), so cost scales directly with volume. FCL is a flat rate for the whole container regardless of how full it is, so cost doesn’t change whether you use 60% or 95% of the container’s capacity. If you’re not sure which is cheaper for your volume, use the LCL vs FCL calculator to find the break-even point first, then come back here for the full all-in cost once you’ve picked a method.