The currency adjustment factor, or CAF, is a surcharge that compensates carriers for exchange-rate movements between the currency freight is quoted in, usually US dollars, and the currencies in which the carrier pays local costs. It is expressed as a percentage of base freight and revised periodically.
A carrier earning dollars but paying terminal, labour, and inland costs in euros or yen carries currency risk. CAF passes part of that risk to the shipper: when the billing currency weakens against the cost currencies, the percentage rises.
CAF matters more on trades with strong non-dollar cost bases and appears alongside BAF and other accessorials on the invoice. Some contracts roll CAF into an all-in rate; others float it with the carrier’s published table.
CAF has no operational footprint, so nothing in a container’s event stream changes with it. Its practical tie to tracking is invoice reconciliation: the shipment record in TrackingMCP confirms the ports, dates, and carrier that determine which surcharge table applied. For the charges that do follow events, start with demurrage and detention.
The currency adjustment factor, or CAF, is a surcharge that compensates carriers for exchange-rate movements between the currency freight is quoted in, usually US dollars, and the currencies in which the carrier pays local costs. It is expressed as a percentage of base freight and revised periodically.
Base rates are commercial commitments; surcharges are mechanical adjustments. Splitting them lets carriers hold quoted rates stable while exchange rates move, and lets shippers see what changed and why.
It appears on fewer quotes than it once did, as many trades moved to all-in pricing, but carriers still publish CAF on lanes with significant currency exposure and in some conference-legacy markets.
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More in Charges & free time: Demurrage · Detention · Demurrage & detention · Demurrage vs detention vs storage · Free time · Last free day (LFD) · Per diem · Terminal handling charge (THC) · General rate increase (GRI) · Peak season surcharge (PSS) · Bunker adjustment factor (BAF) · War risk surcharge (WRS) · Browse all 106 terms →