Why Shipping Costs Just Went Up ✈️

— A quick look at the air fuel surcharge that's raising shipping quotes worldwide — and why it's not us.

Some of you have asked why shipping quotes are higher than they were a month ago. 😮

Let's be clear up front: we didn't raise our prices. Air fuel surcharges went up across the board. This round is steeper than anything we've seen in years, and it's happening industry-wide — not just with one freight forwarder.

Here's what's actually going on. 👇

🧾 What You Pay for Shipping Has Two Parts

The base rate is what the airline charges for the transport service itself, and it's relatively stable. The fuel surcharge is broken out separately, specifically to offset fuel price swings. ⛽

It has three characteristics:

• 📈 One, it floats. When oil goes up, it goes up. When oil goes down, it comes down. It isn't a fixed fee, and it isn't anyone's profit.
• 🌍 Two, it moves globally in sync. Major carriers across Asia and Europe have all been raising cargo fuel surcharges at the same time. This isn't one freight forwarder marking up prices — it's the entire industry passing along the same cost.
• 🔥 Three, it's rising fast. IATA projects that average aviation fuel prices in 2026 will be nearly 70% higher than in 2025. Fuel's share of airline operating costs has climbed from roughly a quarter to over 30%.

In plain terms: out of every dollar an airline collects in freight revenue, more than 30 cents goes straight into the fuel tank. 💸

🌍 Why This Year Is Especially Bad

The immediate cause is the situation in the Middle East.

The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly one-fifth of the world's seaborne aviation fuel trade. When geopolitical conflict flares up, the market immediately fears supply disruption and prices spike. At the same time, the refining margin for turning crude oil into jet fuel has hit an all-time high.

And that's not all. Q4 is peak freight season. AI servers, semiconductors, and consumer electronics are all competing for cargo space. 📦

💡 The Fuel Surcharge Is Not Our Profit

This part matters, so we want to be explicit.

When the fuel surcharge goes up, that money does not go into our pocket. It's a hard cost set by airlines based on international fuel price indices. We're simply collecting and passing it through.

In other words, when oil prices fall, it falls too. Domestic routes went through a stretch of consecutive cuts before this round of Middle East tension reversed the trend. It is not a one-way, fixed increase. 🔄

Nobody wants it to come down more than we do. 🙏

🛠️ What We've Done About It

To be honest, we've absorbed part of this increase ourselves.

📌 What This Means for You

If you order soon, you may see shipping a bit higher than before. That's the reality, and we won't dress it up.

But a few things you can count on:

• 🔍 Shipping is transparent. The fuel surcharge is tied to public fuel price indices, not something we make up. 
• 📉 It will come down. This is a floating mechanism, not a permanent price hike.
• 👀 We're watching it closely. Fuel prices, cargo space, route rates — we track all of it, because it directly affects your landed cost and, in turn, our business.