When 96 kilograms have to be charged as 100

An air freight rate is not a single figure per kilogram. It is a table of breaks: a minimum charge, then the normal rate up to 45 kilograms, then a lower rate from 45, a lower one again from 100, and so on — typically up to 300, 500 and 1000 kilograms.

Each break carries a lower rate per kilogram. From that follows a situation which at first sight looks like an error, but is the rule.

An example

A shipment with a chargeable weight of 96 kg. The rate in the 45–99 kg band is €4.20/kg. The rate from 100 kg is €3.80/kg.

Charged in its own band: 96 × 4.20 = €403.20. Charged as 100 kg: 100 × 3.80 = €380.00.

The difference is €23.20, and it is in the customer’s favour. By paying for four kilograms that do not exist, you pay less.

The TACT rules provide that in such a case the lower amount applies. This is not a trick and not an exception — it is set out in the rate application rules that carriers and forwarders use.

Why nobody applies it

Not out of bad faith. Because it has to be checked shipment by shipment, and no system does that automatically as default behaviour.

The calculation needs three things: the chargeable weight, the rate applied and the rate of the next break. The first two are on the invoice. The third is in the rate card, which is usually not opened while the invoice is being processed — the invoice is checked against the quoted amount, not against the whole table of breaks.

The result: the rule exists, both sides know it, and it is applied episodically — when somebody happens to notice.

Where most is lost

Not on isolated large shipments. The loss accumulates on shipments whose weight is consistently just below a break — 40–44 kg, 90–99 kg, 280–299 kg.

That is not a coincidence. Companies whose shipments are of the same type also have the same weights. If your standard pallet comes to 92 kg chargeable, then every shipment is the same missed calculation, and over a year that is not €23.

How to check

You need your own rate card with all the breaks, not only with the one being applied. That is the only way.

After that it is simple: for each shipment, work out the amount at the break applied and the amount at the minimum weight of the next break with its rate. If the second is lower — you have a finding.

If you do not have a rate card with the breaks, it is worth asking for one. A quotation with a single rate per kilogram is not a rate card, and without it this rule cannot be checked — neither by you nor by us.

One note on the minimum charge

The same logic works at the bottom end. If the minimum charge was applied but the amount calculated at the normal rate would have been higher — all is well. But if the minimum charge was applied where the calculated amount would have been lower, that is the same error inverted.