US import fee benchmarks · updated October 22, 2026
What it really costs to import a container
The ocean rate is only part of the bill. Freight Benchmarks measures the fees that quotes leave out (demurrage, detention, chassis, exams, storage) from the invoices of 8,298 ocean container shipments into US ports between July 2024 and June 2026.
Where containers run up delay fees
Share of ocean container shipments that paid demurrage, per diem, storage or chassis extra days, by discharge port or rail hub
Gray rule: all ports, 34.8%.
Delay fees and extra charges by port
Seaports and inland rail hubs behave very differently. Containers railed inland to hubs such as Chicago or Minneapolis wait at ramps, need chassis that are often somewhere else, and spend more days on the road, so they collect far more fees than boxes delivered straight from a coastal terminal.
| Port or rail hub | Paid a delay fee | Extra fees per shipment | Demurrage | Per diem | Chassis split | Shipments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | 12.6% | $63 | 0.5% | 1.1% | 4.5% | 964 |
| Long Beach | 20.5% | $129 | under 0.7% | under 0.7% | 29.7% | 736 |
| Chicago inland rail hub | 44.9% | $191 | 2.6% | 5.5% | 39.0% | 712 |
| Los Angeles | 35.3% | $183 | 1.4% | under 0.9% | 26.4% | 578 |
| Omaha inland rail hub | 52.6% | $236 | 1.9% | 1.2% | 46.8% | 554 |
| Minneapolis / St. Paul inland rail hub | 74.4% | $360 | 2.3% | 7.2% | 62.7% | 536 |
| San Juan | 7.3% | $35 | 3.1% | under 1.1% | — | 460 |
| New York / New Jersey | 29.3% | $155 | under 1.5% | under 1.5% | 2.8% | 343 |
| Houston | 28.0% | $161 | under 2.4% | under 2.4% | 3.6% | 211 |
| Savannah | 13.4% | $102 | under 3.4% | under 3.4% | 5.6% | 145 |
| Seattle | 35.5% | $250 | under 4.1% | under 4.1% | — | 123 |
| Port Everglades | 28.7% | $248 | under 5.3% | 8.5% | under 9.1% | 94 |
| Tampa | 23.0% | $261 | under 5.7% | under 5.7% | under 6.4% | 87 |
| All ports in the data | 34.8% | $174 | 2.4% | 3.7% | 29.0% | 8,298 |
How often each fee hits, and what it costs
How often each fee was billed and what the bill came to when it was. Medians and ranges describe the bills that were charged, so a rare fee can still be expensive.
| Fee | How often | Median bill | Middle half | 1 in 10 pay over |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port, carrier and customs fees Share of all ocean container shipments. | ||||
| Demurrage | 2.4% | $490 | $230–$1,144 | $2,870 |
| Per diem (detention) | 3.7% | $370 | $185–$870 | $2,370 |
| Storage | 9.5% | $135 | $65–$315 | $605 |
| Customs exam | 0.5% | $412 | $134–$880 | $2,387 |
| Port congestion surcharge | 1.1% | too few bills to publish | ||
| Wharfage | 9.0% | $110 | $110–$110 | $220 |
| Trucking (drayage) fees Share of shipments whose final trucking the forwarder arranged. | ||||
| Chassis rental | 79.2% | $165 | $135–$165 | $225 |
| Chassis split | 29.0% | $125 | $85–$150 | $250 |
| Chassis extra days | 37.5% | $150 | $90–$225 | $360 |
| Pre-pull | see note | $160 | $150–$200 | $400 |
| Driver waiting time | 5.6% | $170 | $100–$285 | $500 |
| Overweight | 4.1% | $170 | $120–$200 | $310 |
Delay and inspection fees
Bill per shipment when the fee is charged. Bar: middle half of bills. Dot: median. Line: to the 90th percentile.
Storage, chassis and trucking fees
Bill per shipment when the fee is charged. Bar: middle half of bills. Dot: median. Line: to the 90th percentile.
Demurrage is down sharply since the 2021 crisis
In 2021, 8.7% of shipments in our data paid demurrage. In 2026 so far it is 0.8%. Port congestion surcharges peaked in 2022. See the yearly trends →
Free quote
Paying more than the benchmark?
Tell us your lane and we'll connect you with a licensed US freight forwarder and customs broker for a quote that spells out every fee before you ship.
- A clear quote with drayage, chassis and port fees listed
- Free time and demurrage terms in writing before you book
- A reply within one business day, no obligation
About this data
Every figure comes from line-item invoices a licensed US freight forwarder and customs broker billed to importers. It shares anonymized records with Freight Benchmarks. We publish aggregates only. A port appears only when at least 10 different importers shipped through it, and no single importer counts for more than 25% of any figure. Read the methodology, or download the data (CSV and JSON, CC BY 4.0).