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C.H. Robinson announces drayage congestion surcharges

$175 fee will apply to all boxes at the nation’s top container ports

Port congestion leading to new surcharges (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Freight broker C.H. Robinson said it would begin levying drayage surcharges in September due to worsening congestion at U.S. ports.

“As you are aware, the past year has brought about unprecedented challenges for the transportation industry. Recently, it has reached a breaking point,” a Thursday client advisory read.“ As a result, international drayage carriers servicing several ports/ramps through the U.S. have implemented congestion/peak season surcharges.”

Beginning Wednesday, a surcharge of $175 per container will apply to all inbound and outbound full-containerload cargo serviced at most of the nation’s top container ports. The fee will also apply to all rail locations in Atlanta. The notable exceptions were Norfolk, Virginia, and Oakland, California, where the incremental fees will not be assessed.

C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) said the surcharges will carry through the end of the year “at which time we will reevaluate.”


The service advisory pointed to increased import volumes and a lack of labor and equipment as some of the reasons for elevated dwell times and congestion.

“What the industry hoped would be a short-term challenge is now forecasted to last well into Quarter 1 2022,” the notice continued. “Due to this situation that is beyond our control this fee will apply on door moves to/from the terminals.”

The company will also be implementing an origin congestion surcharge for Shenzhen, China, which will begin on Sept. 6. A “significant increase” in operational costs at the port in recent weeks was the explanation given.

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6 Comments

  1. Ronnie

    How will this pay effect Savannah Georgia port are we going to get a raise in pay. The pay has been the same for the last ten years are better. 50 in 50 out. Every one making money but the O/O drivers which is 75% of the port drivers. It would be nice to able to get a raise.

  2. Brian Watt

    C.H. Robinson is finally waking up to an issue which has been going on since October 2020. Big Deal ! C.H. (Cheap Henry) has been underpaying drayage companies for years. C. H., and companies of their ilk have been reaping the benefits of their centralized bankbook by driving down prices paid to drayage capacity whilst charging unnecessary broker fees to their clients. Clients too lazy to get their own drayage capacity.

    My question is this: How much of this so-called surcharge will get to the drivers?

  3. Stephen Webster

    That surcharge is way too high should be no more than $60.00 U S . Truck drivers in Canada and Australia and some parts of the U S are not happy and will leave the industry.

  4. What's happening

    I’m your caretaker I’m going to sue every trucking company you drive for, see this pice of paper it says I’m your caretaker all of the trucking companies will settle and give me a million dollars .

    1. Fatai

      Not so fast , it the false of employees woryat rail yards, they take there time loading containers and even load anyone they want . I was in rail yard for 6hrs yesterday 8/30/21 LPCchannahon. Some driver have to leave because they out of driving time

Comments are closed.

Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.