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USDA Inspection Charge (UIC)
At Maersk Line, we continuously work to ensure all of our activities respect local government regulations to provide our customers with a responsible, trouble-free customer experience.
As such, we would like to inform shippers importing cold treatment cargo* into the United States, of the recent change in cold treatment inspection charges. On October 23rd, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register to recoup the costs of conducting agricultural quarantine inspections (AQI) at U.S. ports of entry. Starting December 28, 2015, this USDA Inspection Charge for monitoring and confirming phytosanitary treatments of imports will be applied to carriers who transport cold treatment cargo.
The cost of this inspection will be passed down from Maersk Line to importers of cold treatment cargo into the United States, in the form of a “USDA Inspections Charge” or UIC. Please note that these fees are imposed by the U.S. Government and not a Maersk Line surcharge. This fee will be present in your Maersk Line invoice starting January 1st, 2016.
The fee for AQI treatment services from the USDA will be phased in over the next 5 years as follows (please note these fees are per reading only):
First Year: $47.00
Second Year: $95.00
Third Year: $142.00
Fourth Year: $190.00
Fifth Year: $237.00
You may find more details on this USDA fee by clicking here.
Should you have any questions, please contact your local sales representative. We thank you for your business and look forward to continuously serving your global transportation requirements.
*Cold treatment is a USDA requirement for the entry of certain fruits to the United States.
Please click here to look up specific commodities requiring cold treatment by the USDA.