Dole Ocean Cargo Express will raise its US Terminal Handling Surcharge by $35 per container, with the revised fee taking effect on 25 October 2026 across four named American ports.

The increase applies to northbound and southbound cargo moving through Wilmington, Delaware; Freeport, Texas; Gulfport, Mississippi; and Tampa, Florida. It also extends to shipments between Canada and Wilmington, a routing used by refrigerated produce trades in which the US-flag carrier specialises.

The carrier confirmed that the surcharge revision covers both service contract and tariff shipments, meaning booked and spot customers on the affected lanes will absorb the same line-item uplift. "The revised surcharge covers both service contract and tariff shipments," the carrier stated.

What does the surcharge cover?

Terminal Handling Surcharges recover costs carriers incur at marine terminals for container handling, documentation and gate-side movements. They appear as separate invoice lines on top of base ocean freight and typically adjust when terminal operators themselves raise gate, lift or documentation fees. A flat $35-per-box increment lands directly on the landed-cost ledger of importers using the named ports, particularly Dole's reefer and specialised cargo clients on US East Coast and Gulf trades.

Which ports are affected?

• Wilmington, Delaware — a North Atlantic gateway serving the US East Coast reefer and fruit-import complex, with onward connections into Mid-Atlantic markets and refrigerated distribution centres.
• Freeport, Texas — a Gulf container terminal handling chemicals, project cargo and refrigerated produce linked to Latin America trades and inland US destinations.
• Gulfport, Mississippi — a Mississippi Gulf hub serving containerised agricultural flows, forest products and breakbulk alongside scheduled container calls.
• Tampa, Florida — a Florida-focused gateway with strong ties to Caribbean and Central American services, including produce and consumer goods.

What does the change mean commercially?

For shippers routed through the four listed ports, the $35 increase raises the all-in cost per box by the same amount, regardless of whether the cargo moves under a negotiated service contract or a published tariff. Because THCs apply per container, the impact scales linearly with volume; a 100-box reefer programme adds $3,500 in additional terminal-handling cost per sailing cycle.

Forwarders handling Dole reefer and special-equipment loads should review their cost-build templates, particularly for Canada-Wilmington flows where the same increment applies on both legs. Negotiated freight rates built on a per-box basis will see margin compression unless service-contract escalator clauses absorb the cost.

Why the narrow port list?

Dole Ocean Cargo Express operates a focused reefer and specialised network rather than a fully liner container schedule. Applying the surcharge only to terminals the carrier actively calls avoids cross-subsidising ports outside its rotation and reflects the localised nature of terminal-cost recovery. The four-port footprint covers Dole's key East Coast and Gulf fruit, produce and refrigerated entry points, with Wilmington serving as the principal US East Coast hub and Freeport, Gulfport and Tampa anchoring Gulf coverage.

Carriers with similar reefer-focused business models tend to publish THCs port-by-port because terminal-handling economics differ sharply between Gulf and Atlantic facilities. A selective increase at four named terminals signals that Dole is aligning its pricing with the specific cost moves reported by those terminal operators.

What shippers should watch

The 25 October 2026 effective date gives buyers several months to renegotiate, re-tender or absorb the uplift. Carriers typically publish THCs well in advance to allow contract review cycles to complete, and a $35 increment is modest enough that most service-contract customers will roll it into existing rate structures rather than trigger re-opener clauses.

If terminal-side costs continue to rise through 2026, additional carriers serving the same Gulf and US East Coast reefer trades may publish comparable adjustments, lifting the baseline THC across the named lanes before year-end and keeping reefer importers on alert through the autumn contracting window.