Accessorial charges
Accessorial charges are fees billed on top of the linehaul rate for extra services or conditions beyond a standard dock-to-dock move, such as detention, a liftgate, residential delivery or a truck canceled after dispatch.
What is Accessorial charges?
The linehaul rate pays for moving freight from A to B. Anything that costs the carrier extra time, equipment or labor is billed as an accessorial. For LTL freight, accessorials and their prices are published in each carrier’s rules tariff. For truckload freight, they are negotiated per load and written on the rate confirmation, so what was agreed before pickup is what can be billed after delivery.
Accessorials are where margins quietly leak. A shipper that did not budget for a liftgate, or a carrier that forgot to document detention hours, ends up in a billing dispute weeks after the load delivered. Recording arrival and departure times, receipts and reasons at the stop, ideally in the driver app, is what makes an accessorial billable.
Common accessorial charges
Time-based: detention (waiting at the shipper or receiver beyond free time), layover (a driver held overnight), and driver assist or unloading when the driver works the dock. Cancellation: TONU, truck ordered not used, when a load is canceled after the truck is committed. Labor: a lumper fee for third-party unloading, billed back with the receipt.
Delivery conditions: liftgate, residential or limited-access delivery (schools, construction sites, military bases), inside delivery, and appointment or notify-before-delivery. LTL audit charges: reweigh and reclassification when the carrier finds a different weight or freight class than the BOL shows. Other: hazmat handling, extra stops, and the fuel surcharge, which many carriers list with their accessorials.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays accessorial charges?
Whoever the contract says. Usually the party that caused the extra cost pays: the shipper or receiver for detention at its dock, the customer who asked for a liftgate or residential delivery. On brokered loads the carrier bills the broker, who bills the shipper. Anything not on the rate confirmation is hard to collect.
Is a fuel surcharge an accessorial charge?
It is billed separately from the linehaul and many carriers list it with their accessorials, but it works differently: a fuel surcharge applies to every shipment and moves with a published diesel price index, while most accessorials apply only when a specific service or condition occurs.
How can shippers reduce accessorial charges?
Book accurate details up front (weight, class, liftgate, residential address, appointment needs), load and unload on time to avoid detention, and agree the accessorial schedule before tender. Most surprise charges come from information that was missing or wrong on the order. The free detention calculator shows what waiting time costs per stop.
How does a TMS handle accessorials?
A TMS stores the agreed accessorials per customer or per load, captures the evidence at the stop (times, photos, receipts), and adds the charges to the invoice automatically. In Transportial the pricing engine holds customer-specific rates and surcharges, and invoicing attributes every charge back to its order.
See Accessorial charges in a real TMS
Transportial puts these concepts to work in one operational platform — planning, tracking, documents, and finance.