Let’s follow one ordinary shipment.
This may seem like an obvious and straightforward issue to both notice and resolve. However, as of September 2026, our review of published heavyweight surcharge rules across the world's largest container lines found multiple variations in both the weight being measured and the threshold at which a surcharge applies. Even within the same carrier, the rule can change by trade lane, equipment and contract.
You can see how quickly this can be amplified as additional providers, suppliers and contracts of carriage are required to submit, share or process the same underlying data in their own way.
- Shipment reference
- TRS-001
- Equipment
- 1 × 40HC Dry
- Commodity
- Ceramic tiles
- Route
- Izmir → Felixstowe
- Cargo Gross Weight (CGW)
- 18,900 kg
- Container Tare Weight (CTW)
- 3,820 kg
- Verified Gross Mass (VGM)
- 22,720 kg
- Weight reconciliation
- 18,900 + 3,820 = 22,720 kg
22,720 − 3,820 = 18,900 kg
The difference exactly matches the container tare.
VGM appears to have been carried into the Cargo Gross Weight field.
The processed record shows 22,720 kg as both VGM and Cargo Gross Weight. Container tare is separately recorded as 3,820 kg.
What depended on that number next?
Carrier invoice
Was a heavyweight surcharge applied using VGM or Cargo Gross Weight?
If the applicable tariff or contract used VGM, the incorrect CGW may have had no financial effect.
If the applicable tariff or contract used cargo weight, check whether the recorded 22,720 kg CGW changed the charge.
For this reference case, Tekmerion Ocean Lines (fictional) charges £1,450 base freight plus £175 where CGW is greater than 20,000 kg, for Izmir → Felixstowe and 40HC Dry. The packing list records 18,900 kg; the booking records 22,720 kg. Those two evidenced values change this fictional tariff outcome by £175. This is a calculated difference to check, not a confirmed overcharge.
Transport
Was the incorrect 22,720 kg Cargo Gross Weight consumed by a transport-planning process?
Check whether cargo weight affected equipment, loading, vehicle, rail or routing decisions.
If a downstream process subsequently added the 3,820 kg container tare to the incorrect CGW, it could calculate 26,540 kg instead of the correct 22,720 kg packed-container mass.
The question is whether the incorrect weight affected an applicable operational threshold or decision.
Customs
Did the incorrect definition of cargo weight propagate through a commercial invoice, packing list, shipping instruction or customs declaration?
Check whether any affected customs data element, tariff measure, licence, quota, revenue control or other requirement depends upon the declared goods weight.
Reporting
Was the incorrect Cargo Gross Weight consumed by another calculation?
Check weight-dependent measures such as payload utilisation, cost per tonne, emissions calculations or management reporting.
- 1 shipment
- 10
- 100
- A year of shipments
More shipments. More documents. More tariffs. More providers. More relationships to check.
That is what Tekmerion is for.
The larger volumes above describe the wider problem, not volumes available in the current one-shipment Private Alpha.
Complexity builds around simple data.
Something as straightforward as weight can be defined, recorded and processed in many different ways as a shipment moves between suppliers, forwarders, carriers, hauliers, terminals, customs processes and other providers.
The complexity is in how that information is defined, transferred and used. At its core, the underlying shipment information remains largely the same: shipment reference, origin, destination, equipment, commodity, quantity, weight and the other basic details already shared with the businesses moving the goods.
Nothing groundbreaking here.
You should recognise most of these column headings. They’re pretty much the bare minimum your logistics provider, carrier or freight forwarder needs to book a shipment.
You’ve got this.
These are examples, not required Tekmerion templates. You don't need all three. Send us what you've got.
For the current server audit, use the shipment and tariff Excel files. To evidence the tariff difference, extract the commercial pack and also upload Packing_List.csv, a structured export of the same packing list. The PDFs show ordinary business documents; the current audit uses structured records.
Change the booking CGW to 18,900 kg or the tariff threshold to 23,000 kg and re-run: the cost observation disappears. A PO-reference change does not change this weight rule. VGM is not the trigger for this CGW tariff.
Private Alpha accepts one resolved shipment per analysis. Bulk and mini-batch analysis are not currently available. These Excel findings require the server audit; the browser-only review does not yet analyse them.
Try it in Tekmerion →