Your freight bill
How much does an import container cost after it lands?
The short answer
Freight Benchmarks found that extra charges after arrival averaged $174 per US import container shipment first invoiced July 2024 to June 2026, counting the shipments that paid none. By port, the average ran from $35 at the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico to $360 at the Minneapolis–St. Paul rail hub. Delivery, customs clearance and duties come on top.
Cite this figure: Average extra charges per shipment
Freight Benchmarks (2026). Average extra charges per shipment: $174. Average per shipment over all 8,298 US import container shipments across all published ports, including those that paid none. Shipments first invoiced July 2024 to June 2026; data version 2026-10-22. https://freightbenchmarks.com/answers/container-cost-after-arrival/#fig-national-expected-accessorial-usd (CC BY 4.0)
Cite this figure: Average extra charges per shipment at the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the lowest of the published ports
Freight Benchmarks (2026). Average extra charges per shipment at the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the lowest of the published ports: $35. Average per shipment over all 460 US import container shipments at the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, including those that paid none. Shipments first invoiced July 2024 to June 2026; data version 2026-10-22. https://freightbenchmarks.com/answers/container-cost-after-arrival/#fig-ports-min-expected-accessorial-usd (CC BY 4.0)
Cite this figure: Average extra charges per shipment at the Minneapolis–St. Paul rail hub, the highest of the published ports
Freight Benchmarks (2026). Average extra charges per shipment at the Minneapolis–St. Paul rail hub, the highest of the published ports: $360. Average per shipment over all 536 US import container shipments at the Minneapolis–St. Paul rail hub, including those that paid none. Shipments first invoiced July 2024 to June 2026; data version 2026-10-22. https://freightbenchmarks.com/answers/container-cost-after-arrival/#fig-ports-max-expected-accessorial-usd (CC BY 4.0)
Cite this figure: Shipments that paid a delay fee
Freight Benchmarks (2026). Shipments that paid a delay fee: 34.8%. Share of 8,298 US import container shipments across all published ports; 95% range 33.8% to 35.9%. Shipments first invoiced July 2024 to June 2026; data version 2026-10-22. https://freightbenchmarks.com/answers/container-cost-after-arrival/#fig-national-any-delay-fee-incidence-pct (CC BY 4.0)
What lands on the bill after the ocean freight
The ocean rate gets the container to a US port or rail ramp. The rest of the landed cost is billed at the destination:
- Destination and terminal charges. Often folded into the freight rate, sometimes listed separately with port tariff charges such as wharfage.
- Customs. The broker’s entry and filing fees, plus the duties, taxes and government fees on the goods. Those depend on what you import and where it was made, not on the port you choose.
- Delivery (drayage). The trucker’s base rate to your door, and the chassis rental the container rides on.
- Extra charges. Everything the shipment didn’t plan for, from storage and demurrage to chassis splits and driver waiting time.
Freight Benchmarks measures the last group, because it is the part quotes leave out and the part that moves the most from one shipment to the next.
How much the extra charges add
Across all published ports, 43.6% of shipments paid at least one extra charge, and 34.8% paid at least one delay fee: demurrage, per diem, storage or chassis extra days. Spread over every shipment, including the ones that paid nothing extra, the charges averaged $174 per shipment. The table below ranks every published port and rail hub by that average. All figures are per shipment; most shipments are a single container.
Why the average isn’t your budget
An average spreads a few expensive shipments across many cheap ones. Most shipments pay little or nothing extra, and a few pay a lot. When demurrage was charged, 1 in 10 bills was over $2,870; when per diem was charged, 1 in 10 was over $2,370. For one shipment, start from your port’s average and keep a reserve for one delay: how much free time you have, the daily rate after it, and how fast your warehouse can unload and return the empty.
Budgeting by port
Ports differ because of how long containers wait for pickup, where the chassis are, what the port tariff charges, and how far the box travels after it lands. Containers railed to an inland hub are handled twice, which shows up as chassis splits and chassis days; see why container fees are higher at inland rail hubs. Each port page breaks the average down fee by fee, so you can see what drives it where you land.
| Rank | Port or rail hub | Paid a delay fee | Extra fees per shipment | Shipments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Juan seaport | 7.3% | $35 | 460 |
| 2 | Miami seaport | 12.6% | $63 | 964 |
| 3 | Savannah seaport | 13.4% | $102 | 145 |
| 4 | Long Beach seaport | 20.5% | $129 | 736 |
| 5 | New York / New Jersey seaport | 29.3% | $155 | 343 |
| 6 | Houston seaport | 28.0% | $161 | 211 |
| 7 | Los Angeles seaport | 35.3% | $183 | 578 |
| 8 | Chicago inland rail hub | 44.9% | $191 | 712 |
| 9 | Omaha inland rail hub | 52.6% | $236 | 554 |
| 10 | Port Everglades seaport | 28.7% | $248 | 94 |
| 11 | Seattle seaport | 35.5% | $250 | 123 |
| 12 | Tampa seaport | 23.0% | $261 | 87 |
| 13 | Minneapolis / St. Paul inland rail hub | 74.4% | $360 | 536 |
| All published ports | 34.8% | $174 | 8,298 |
What to do
- Get the ocean freight, destination charges, customs clearance and delivery quoted together, with the free time and chassis days in writing.
- Add the average extra charges for your port from the port pages, then a reserve for one delay at the daily rates in your quote.
- Ask a licensed customs broker to estimate duties, taxes and fees for your goods. They depend on what you import and its origin, not on the port.
- When the bill comes, check each extra charge with the freight bill checker.
Questions
What is landed cost?
Everything it takes to get goods to your door: the price of the goods, ocean freight, destination and terminal charges, customs brokerage, duties and fees, delivery, and any extra charges such as storage or demurrage. Freight Benchmarks measures the extra charges, the part quotes most often leave out.
How much are extra charges per container after arrival?
Freight Benchmarks found that accessorial charges averaged $174 per shipment across all US import container shipments first invoiced July 2024 to June 2026, counting the shipments that paid none. Most shipments are a single container.
Does the port change what I pay after arrival?
Yes. Both the share of shipments that paid a delay fee and the average extra charges differ from port to port. The Freight Benchmarks port pages show each published port against all ports, fee by fee.
Are duties included in these figures?
No. Freight Benchmarks measures accessorial charges such as demurrage, storage and chassis fees. Duties, taxes and customs fees depend on the goods and where they were made; a licensed customs broker can estimate them.
Sources
- US Customs and Border Protection: basic importing and exporting (duties, taxes and fees)
- Freight Benchmarks figures: Anonymized line-item forwarder invoices billed to US importers, contributed through the Freight Benchmarks data partner program, in which every partner is a licensed US freight forwarder and customs broker. Aggregates only. See the methodology.
Free quote · no obligation
Want a landed-cost quote with nothing left out?
Tell us the lane. One licensed forwarder partner that serves it quotes ocean freight, customs clearance and delivery together, with free time, chassis days and accessorial rates in writing.
- Drayage, chassis and port fees listed line by line
- Free time and demurrage terms in writing before you book
- A reply within one business day
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