Purpose: Inform you about what fuel surcharges are, why they exist, and what the percentages are per carrier.
What is a fuel surcharge?
A fuel surcharge is an extra charge on a shipment based on the current fuel prices. There are different ways to calculate the fuel surcharge. If you want to know what fuel surcharge applies to your specific shipment, you can look up the carrier in one of the heading below. You will find a more in depth explanation, percentages, and pricing there.
DPD NL | DHL NL | DHL BE | DPD AT | DPD BE |
Post AT | Bpost | BRT | DPD DE |
DPD UK | UPS NL | UPS DE | DHL Express |
Colissimo | Correos | Instabox |
Why does the fuel surcharge exist?
Due to the continuous increase of fuel prices, Sendcloud is forced to introduce the fuel surcharge for various carriers. During the second half of 2021, Sendcloud absorbed the cost of these prices from our users under the assumption that prices would normalise or reduce in price over time. Unfortunately, as a result of the current political situation and the economic climate, we don't expect this'll happen any time soon. Because of this, we've introduced a temporary fuel surcharge to be applied to all parcels shipped with the carriers mentioned below.
DPD NL/DPD BE/DHL NL/DHL BE/Bpost
A certain percentage of the fuel surcharges were already included in our shipping rates. This made the formula we used for the fuel surcharges a bit more difficult, since you had to extract the already in the price included percentage from the overall fuel percentage. As of 01-6-2022, we've eliminated the fuel surcharge from the shipping price for the carriers below and instead we'll be charging the full percentage over your (now lower) shipping rates.
Carrier |
APR |
May |
June |
July |
Link |
DHL NL* |
15.25% |
14% |
14% |
14% | |
DPD NL |
18.5% |
16% |
15.5% |
TBA | |
DHL BE |
15.25% |
22% |
19.75% |
19.75% | |
DPD BE |
9.75% |
11.9% |
14% |
TBA |
Fuel surcharge - DPD Belgium monthly variabale fuel surcharge |
Bpost |
|
9.5% |
9.5% |
14% |
Maak uw keuze en raadpleeg onze tarieven - Pro 2022 | bpost Go to 'Pakjes' > 'Brandstoftoeslag' |
*We've negotiated a cap at 14% with DHL NL. This means that the percentage should no longer be higher than 14%.
DPD AT/Post AT
The fuel surcharges for the carriers in this section are based on the following formula:
In the table below, you find the current fuel percentages per carrier. Some carriers update the current fuel percentage monthly and others do so weekly. That's why we aim to update this article on a regular basis, to reflect new percentages as soon as they become available. When you go back to the formula at 'What is a fuel surcharge', you'll find that this is the following part in the formula:
(current fuel percentage for applicable carrier - included percentage applicable to carrier) x 0.04 EUR
Current fuel percentages - Monthly
Carrier |
APR |
May |
June |
July |
Link |
DPD AT |
6.75% |
7.75% |
7.25% |
TBA |
No online link available |
Post AT |
22.5% |
15% |
15% |
TBA |
No online link available |
In the next table, you'll find the included percentage per carrier. This is the second part in the earlier mentioned formula:
(Current fuel percentage for applicable carrier - Included fuel percentage) x 0.04 EUR
Included fuel percentages
Carrier |
Included percentage |
DPD AT |
3% |
Post AT |
9% |
For example, when you want to calculate the fuel surcharge for DPD AT in June, the formula will be:
(7.25 - 3) x 0.04 EUR = 0.17 EUR
Instabox/BRT/DPD DE/DPD UK/Colissimo/Correos/DHL Express
The fuel surcharges for the carriers below are not calculated with the earlier mentioned formula. Instead, it's solely based on a percentage of your shipping price. The percentage you find below is related to the current fuel percentage. It's the percentage of the shipping price that will be added as fuel surcharge.
Current fuel percentages - Weekly
Carrier |
Week 23 |
Week 24 |
Week 25 |
Week 26 |
Link |
BRT* |
6.5% |
9% |
10.5% |
11.5% |
|
DPD DE |
7.2% (fixed) |
7.2% (fixed) |
7.2% (fixed) |
7.2% (fixed) |
No online link available |
DPD UK |
13.5% |
13.5% |
13.5% |
13.5% |
Current fuel percentages - Monthly
Carrier |
APR |
May |
June |
July |
Link |
Colissimo |
4.75% |
7.25% |
6.50% |
14.25% |
|
Correos |
|
11.2% |
11% |
TBA |
No online link available |
DHL Express |
25.50% |
32.25% |
35.75% |
37.5% |
|
Instabox |
|
|
8% |
TBA |
No online link available |
For example, let's imagine that your shipping price with BRT is 4.50 EUR. In that case, the fuel surcharge for your BRT shipment in week 20 would be: 0.27 EUR (4.50 x 0.06).
*For BRT, there's a minimum current fuel percentage of 6%.
UPS NL/UPS DE
This section covers UPS NL and UPS DE. Both carriers work with a formula but the formula differs from the one we saw before. In the table below you can find the formula and current fuel percentage. The shipping price refers to the pre-negotiated rates you use, based on subscription and shipping method and can be found at Settings > Carriers and pricing > Price list in your Sendcloud panel.
Carrier/Method |
Week 23 |
Week 24 |
Week 25 |
Week 26 |
Formula |
UPS Express NL |
34.50% |
37.75% |
39% |
39% |
(current % - 20%) * shipping price |
UPS Standard NL |
19.75% |
19.75% |
20.5% |
21.5% |
(current % - 15%) * shipping price |
UPS Express DE |
34.50% |
37.75% |
39% |
39% |
(current % - 20%) * shipping price |
UPS Standard DE |
19.75% |
19.75% |
20.5% |
21.5% |
(current % - 15%) * shipping price |
For example, if you're shipping with UPS Standard NL in week 26, your shipping price is 6.40 EUR and the current percentage is 20.25%, the costs we apply are:
(21.5% - 15%) x 6.40 EUR = €0.42
For more information on surcharges or carrier specific information, you can use our carrier page or contact customer support.