Cost & quotes
International Freight Shipping Rates: Duties Are Not the Truck
International freight shipping rates fail when finance blends customs with linehaul. Price each stack, especially USA–Mexico–Canada truck legs.
Updated 2026-08-20 · international freight shipping rates
International freight shipping rates are several prices pretending to be one. Inland pickup, a border handoff or an ocean/air main leg, inland delivery, fuel, and accessorials sit in different contracts. Duties and taxes sit in another. If your spreadsheet has a single cell labeled “international freight,” you cannot tell whether the truck, the crossing, or the government moved.
COL Freight Solutions prices the North America motor and warehousing legs as a licensed U.S. property broker (USDOT 4427559, MC-1741651). We coordinate USA–Mexico–Canada fletes with bilingual desks. We will not pretend a domestic van rate is an international freight shipping rate. Send the legs you need quoted: shipping@colfreightsolutions.com · 561-880-9808.
How to read international freight shipping rates without mixing stacks
Ask which currency, which Incoterm-like responsibility, and which miles are included. A DDP-sounding all-in that actually excludes duties is how AP gets blindsided. Motor FSC is not a bunker surcharge; do not compare them as synonyms.
For USA–Mexico–Canada, the expensive surprises are usually dwell, transload, and a destination accessorial—not a mysterious “international tax” on the truck.
Cross-border truck versus ocean-plus-inland
If the cargo can roll over a land border, truck rates follow equipment, capacity, and the crossing. If it must float, ocean base rates follow container utilization and bunker; the inland dray and the U.S. or Mexican domestic leg are still truck products. COL Freight quotes those truck products. Do not skip the inland when you screenshot an ocean index.
Data that changes an international rate overnight
Commodity restrictions, overweight, hazmat, and a port or bridge that closed for weather. Also fuel indexes on each side of the border. A rate from last quarter is a memoir.
- Name origin country, destination country, and the crossing or port.
- Separate customs brokerage from motor linehaul in the RFQ.
- Give cube and weight; international LTL still has class.
Request the legs COL can book
Tell us the inland and cross-border truck work. We will quote FTL or LTL, show fuel, and flag extras. Recurring North America volume may fit the Transportation Cost Recovery Program™. Offices in Saint Petersburg, FL and Los Gatos, CA.
