The shipping advocacy group, whose membership includes the National Industrial Transportation League and Freight Management Association of Canada, adopted the goal of ending the surcharges at its annual meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
GSF is promising a campaign of "naming and shaming the worst examples of opaque and unjustified surcharges."

GSF said, “Surcharges are additional and often arbitrary charges applied by some shipping lines and forwarders to the contracted costs of moving freight containers and are a source of intense frustration to their customers (shippers) around the world. Shipping lines and forwarders often threaten to not transport containers if their surcharges have not been paid, putting intolerable pressure on shippers to ‘pay-up or get left behind.’ ”

"Shippers of goods around the world have had enough of demands made by carriers and forwarders for the payment of charges that are poorly explained or out of proportion for any service provided,” GSF Secretary General Chris Welsh said.

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