Importers often spend most of their time negotiating ocean freight rates, but a growing portion of landed-cost risk is now coming from inside the United States.
Rail fuel surcharges have risen sharply as elevated diesel and energy costs work their way through domestic transportation networks. The USDA benchmark rail fuel surcharge recently reached approximately $0.48 per railcar-mile, roughly 153% higher than a year earlier.
For packaging importers and distributors, this matters well beyond rail transportation.
Higher fuel costs can affect port drayage, full-truckload and LTL transportation, intermodal movements and final customer deliveries. As a result, an attractive ocean freight rate does not necessarily mean the total landed cost will remain attractive when the container reaches the United States.
Importers should therefore separate the major transportation components when calculating landed cost: ocean freight, port and terminal charges, drayage, rail or intermodal transportation, trucking and fuel surcharges.
It is also becoming increasingly important to understand when transportation providers reset their fuel surcharges. A quotation that looks competitive today could change materially if the fuel surcharge is recalculated before delivery.
For distributors, customer pricing requires similar discipline. Long-term delivered pricing without a fuel-adjustment mechanism can transfer transportation volatility directly onto the distributor’s margin.
At Galaxy Converting Corporation, we continue to monitor ocean freight, domestic logistics, raw-material costs and global trade conditions together rather than treating them as separate issues.
In today’s market, managing landed cost means watching the entire journey—from the overseas factory all the way to the customer’s door.