Freight, the fee paid to the ship company in return for the transportation service for goods transported by sea or river. Freight charges accrue according to an official tariff or contract. Depending on the delivery method, the freight may belong to the seller or the buyer.

Freight can be paid in advance (Freight Prepaid) or at the destination port (Freight Payable At Destination/Freight Collect). All of these are regulated in contracts called bills of lading in maritime trade.

Different freight rates may be requested for 20′ (20dc), 40′ (40dc) and 40′ high ceiling (40hc) container types on container ships. Freight offer of each ship owner may vary according to equipment and ship cost. For heavy loads, 40dc container shape with higher loading capacity is preferred. Up to 28 tons of cargo can be transported in these containers. Freight prices are less for the same container type for light loads. Freights also vary according to the direction in which the cargo will be transported. Ships move within a certain route. On this route, the ship is fuller when going to a certain area. The load carried to the other side is less. If transport is carried out in the direction with less load, the freight amount is low. Freight offers mostly refer to carriage on board. When calculating the total transportation amount, it is necessary to take into account the local costs at the loading and unloading port.

When there is too much load to fill a container, it can be transported as partial or LCL (Less than Container Load).