Landed cost calculator: the true cost of every unit

FOB is not your cost. Nine cost pieces, three allocation rules and a worked example — then use the calculator to get every SKU’s unit landed cost.

Landed cost is the full cost of one unit by the time it lands in your US warehouse. The FOB price from the factory is only the tip of the iceberg: international freight, insurance, duty, US customs fixed fees, broker fees, drayage… Together they often push the true cost 30%–60% above FOB. If you cannot compute landed cost, your margin is a mess — and your pricing is gambling, not math.

The nine cost pieces#

• FOB value: factory price × quantity. This is the baseline — it belongs to its SKU directly, no allocation needed.
• International freight: one flat price for the whole shipment (ocean / air / express). Allocated by chargeable weight: volume (CBM) vs. actual weight, whichever is greater. Ocean: 1 CBM = 1,000 kg; air: 1 CBM = 167 kg (industry standard).
• Insurance: cargo value × rate (default 0.3%, editable). Allocated by value — higher-value SKUs take a bigger share.
• Duty: the HTS code decides the rate. Multiple duty layers stack as separate lines (e.g. Section 301 + IEEPA). Allocated by value.
• MPF (Merchandise Processing Fee): a fixed US customs fee — cargo value × 0.3464%, with min/max caps. Auto-calculated, allocated by value.
• HMF (Harbor Maintenance Fee): ocean shipments only — cargo value × 0.125%. Auto-calculated, allocated by value.
• Broker fee: a flat per-shipment fee (default $200, editable). Allocated by value, or switch to per-unit allocation.
• Drayage: port-to-warehouse trucking (default $600/container, editable). Allocated by value, or switch to per-unit.
• Other charges: your own line items (e.g. fumigation, storage, bracing) — name, amount and allocation method are yours to set.

How costs land on each SKU#

Allocation means splitting the shipment-level shared costs across your products. Just three rules to remember:

• By chargeable weight (freight only): volume vs. weight, whichever is greater. Ocean: 1 CBM = 1,000 kg; air: 1 CBM = 167 kg. Bulky-but-light cargo allocates by volume, heavy cargo by weight — this is the "chargeable weight" line on your forwarder’s quote.
• By value (duty, insurance, MPF, HMF default): higher-value SKUs take more. Splitting $54 of insurance between $8,000 and $10,000 of goods means $24 and $30.
• By quantity (broker fee, drayage optional): flat per-shipment fees can also be split evenly by unit count. Splitting $600 of drayage between 2,000 and 1,000 units means $400 and $200.
• Iron rule: everything allocated across SKUs adds up to exactly the shipment total — not a cent more, not a cent less. The calculator self-checks this every time.

Worked example: one container, two SKUs#

A 40ft container holds two SKUs. Shared shipment costs total $7,438.85 (freight $3,500 + insurance $54 + duty $3,000 + MPF $62.35 + HMF $22.50 + broker $200 + drayage $600). Watch how every dollar lands:

SKU A — outdoor folding chair: 1,000 units, FOB $8/unit → $8,000 value; 20 CBM total, 6 tons; HTS 9401.79 at 25%. SKU B — LED desk lamp: 2,000 units, FOB $5/unit → $10,000 value; 15 CBM total, 4 tons; HTS 9405.21 at 10%.

整票货值 $18,000（A $8,000 / B $10,000）

① 运费 $3,500 → 按计费吨（海运 1 CBM = 1000 KG，体积重量取大者）
 A: max(20 CBM, 6 吨) = 20 吨；B: max(15 CBM, 4 吨) = 15 吨；整票 35 吨
 A 分 $3,500 × 20/35 = $2,000；B 分 $3,500 × 15/35 = $1,500

② 关税 → 按货值（各自 SKU 直接归属）
 A: $8,000 × 25% = $2,000；B: $10,000 × 10% = $1,000

③ 保险 $54 → 按货值：A $24.00；B $30.00
④ MPF $62.35（$18,000 × 0.3464%）→ 按货值：A $27.66；B $34.69
⑤ HMF $22.50（$18,000 × 0.125%，海运）→ 按货值：A $10.00；B $12.50
⑥ 报关行费 $200 → 按货值：A $88.89；B $111.11
⑦ 拖车费 $600 → 按货值：A $266.67；B $333.33

A 到岸单价 = ($8,000 + $2,000 + $2,000 + $24.00 + $27.66 + $10.00 + $88.89 + $266.67) / 1,000
 = $12,417.22 / 1,000 = $12.42/件，加成率 (12.42-8)/8 = 55.2%
B 到岸单价 = ($10,000 + $1,500 + $1,000 + $30.00 + $34.69 + $12.50 + $111.11 + $333.33) / 2,000
 = $13,021.63 / 2,000 = $6.51/件，加成率 (6.51-5)/5 = 30.2%

校验：$12,417.22 + $13,021.63 = $25,438.85 = 整票总成本 ✓（分摊铁律：一分不多，一分不少）

Use the calculator in 3 steps#

1. Enter the shipment: transport mode (ocean / air / express), container type, origin – destination.
2. Enter the products: one row per SKU — quantity, FOB unit price, volume, weight, HTS code. Codes in the built-in table auto-fill the rate; for others, just type the rate manually.
3. Enter the fees: flat freight price, insurance rate, broker fee, drayage — defaults fill the gaps; add your own lines for special charges (fumigation, storage).
4. Review and tweak: the system first computes a draft using built-in rates and MPF/HMF rules — override any rate or fee in place and the result recalculates instantly.

[Screenshot placeholder: the calculator’s 3-step input page — shipment info / SKU lines / fees, full-page screenshot to be added once the UI ships.]

How to read the result#

• Unit landed cost: each SKU’s per-unit cost (USD, 2 decimals) — this is the "true cost" to record in your cost sheet.
• Cost breakdown: FOB / freight / insurance / duty / MPF+HMF / broker & drayage / other — expand to see what each piece added and where the money went.
• Markup: (landed − FOB) / FOB. See at a glance which SKUs had their profit eaten by freight and duty.
• Shipment summary: total cargo value, total landed cost, total duty, average markup — what the whole shipment really cost, in one glance.
• Pie chart: cost mix (FOB vs freight vs duty vs other) — screenshot it for your boss or partner; nothing explains faster.

[Screenshot placeholder: results page — per-SKU landed cost table + cost-mix pie chart, full-page screenshot to be added once the UI ships.]

Rates and fees: everything is overridable#

The auto-calculation is only a starting point. Your broker gave you a flat MPF package price? Type the real number in that row. You actually clear an HTS at 7.5%? Change the rate box to 7.5%. Every edit recalculates instantly — evidence first, judgment second.

Save, share, export#

• Save scenarios (Docklify signed-in users): compute a lane once, save it with a name (e.g. "40HQ-LA-outdoor-chair"), and reopen it next time to tweak the numbers instead of retyping.
• Share link (public version): no login needed — the scenario is encoded in the URL. Send it to your partner or forwarder; they open the exact same numbers, no Excel ping-pong.
• Export CSV / Excel: detail + summary in two sheets, ready to paste into your cost workbook.

Rate disclaimer#

What v1 does not cover#

• Full HTS database: 200–300 common codes are built in; for the rest, type the rate manually — it works the same.
• Live rate lookup and historical rates: only current rates are used.
• Multi-currency: v1 is USD only.
• Duty drawback / refunds, Amazon FBA fee back-calculation, last-mile delivery fees — a different kind of math, not in this tool.

Know your landed cost and price with confidence. Start from the example above, then run one of your own shipments through it — 5 minutes now saves a shipment’s worth of guesswork.

PO & receiving integration#

The calculator is also built into your purchasing and receiving flow. When you create a purchase order, expand the "Landed Cost Estimate" section: enter freight mode, estimated freight, insurance rate, broker and drayage fees, and the system estimates every line’s unit landed cost in real time — using the same engine as the standalone calculator. The estimate is saved with the PO and shown read-only on the PO detail page. It never blocks ordering: skip it and the PO goes through as usual.

When goods arrive, open the inbound receipt and expand the "Landed Cost" card: enter the actual freight, insurance, duty, broker and drayage paid, then hit "Recalculate". The system writes each line’s actual unit landed cost back to the receipt — the true cost basis for your margin reports. Duty rates come from the official USITC schedule (auto-synced weekly); you can override any HTS rate per organization and your override always wins.