THC in Importing: The Cost That Changes Without Warning

Terminal handling charges at Brazilian container terminals sat between US$ 70 and US$ 100 per TEU in 2019. By 2026, that number hit roughly US$ 500, according to a survey by Neowise Consultoria cited by consultant Luis Claudio Montenegro. Nothing else in the import logistics cost moved that much in the same period. Ocean freight swings with global capacity, Brazil’s AFRMM levy tracks a statutory rate, and bonded warehouse fees follow the terminal’s published table. THC is different. It varies by terminal, by container type, and it shifts without notice to the freight forwarder.

THC is the terminal’s fee, and the carrier passes it through to the forwarder

THC covers what the port terminal does with the container once the ship arrives: discharging it from the vessel, moving it inside the quay, and placing it in the yard. The terminal does the work, the carrier pays the terminal, and then the carrier passes the cost to the freight forwarder as a line item in the local charges. The forwarder adds it to the freight quote, usually separate from the ocean freight itself.

The importer pays the THC in the end, but the charge passes through every link in the chain. The terminal bills the carrier, the carrier bills the forwarder, and the forwarder bills the importer. Each one adds margin. So the THC on a forwarder’s quote is almost always higher than the rate the terminal publishes.

In practice, the same container on the same route can show a different THC depending on the carrier, because each carrier has its own deal with the terminal and applies its own markup. When an importer compares quotes from two forwarders, a THC gap might come from the carrier, the discharge terminal, or the forwarder’s margin. Without a line-by-line breakdown, there is no way to tell.

The charge quintupled in seven years because infrastructure did not keep up with volume

Container volumes at Brazilian ports grew 42% between 2019 and 2026, according to Portogente, but installed terminal capacity barely changed. That mismatch explains the jump from US$ 70-100 to US$ 500 per TEU. Santos handled 3.47 million TEU in 2025 across three container terminals (Santos Brasil, BTP, and DP World) whose combined capacity is around 6.5 million TEU per year. More cargo through the same infrastructure means tighter margins for the terminal and longer vessel queues at berth.

When ships wait to berth, the terminal’s costs go up. Extra shifts, crowded yards, lower productivity. Terminals pass those costs into the handling charge and adjust it whenever they renegotiate contracts with carriers, without telling the forwarder market.

Santos gets the most attention, but Paranagua, Itajai, Navegantes, and Rio Grande have gone through the same thing. Volume concentration at the big container terminals is a nationwide pattern. Smaller or more remote terminals tend to charge less, but the inland trucking cost to the cargo’s final destination can eat up the difference.

Brazil’s port regulator ANTAQ issued Resolutions 100 and 101 in 2023 to set a methodology for identifying abusive handling charges. The rules require terminals to publish their rate tables and allow importers and forwarders to challenge increases above the agency’s benchmarks. The terminal’s table is public, but the amount the carrier charges the forwarder is a commercial figure. The gap between the two stays hidden from whoever sits at the end of the chain.

A forwarder quoting with last month’s table loses margin on the shipment

THC shows up in the freight quote as a fixed amount per container, in US dollars or Brazilian reais, depending on the carrier and the terminal. A freight quote’s validity is usually 7 to 15 days, but the gap between an accepted quote and the actual shipment can stretch to two to six weeks. If the carrier raised the THC during that window, the forwarder eats the difference because the price was already locked in with the importer.

It gets worse when the sales team quotes off an outdated local charges table. Carriers publish their tables with a validity period, but not every forwarder checks the effective date before quoting. A THC of US$ 450 per container that climbed to US$ 520 between one publication and the next costs the forwarder US$ 70 per box. On an FCL shipment with three containers, that is US$ 210 gone from a single process. On a competitive route, it can be half the shipment’s operating margin.

Currency risk adds another layer when the THC is quoted in dollars and the forwarder invoices in reais. A forwarder who locked the price in reais with the importer but owes the carrier in dollars is exposed to two moving parts at once: the THC adjustment and the exchange rate movement between the quote date and the payment date to the carrier.

If you run a freight forwarding operation, THC needs the same attention as ocean freight. Everyone watches freight rates because they move with the market. THC climbs quietly, terminal by terminal, and usually only shows up at process settlement.

How Tier2 Cargo tracks THC in every shipment’s cost

Tier2 Cargo records THC as its own line item in each import process, separate from freight, surcharges, and other local charges. The amount quoted to the importer, the amount billed by the carrier, and the amount actually paid all live in the same process. Margin shows at three points: estimated, invoiced, and realized at settlement. If the carrier’s THC changed between the quote and the shipment, the gap between estimated and realized margin is visible in the process before month-end close.

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The next THC adjustment at the terminal where your cargo lands may already be on the carrier’s rate sheet. Checking that number before you renew a quote is cheaper than finding the gap at settlement.