A freight-all-kinds circular lands in the inbox on a Monday, and procurement asks whether the warehouse should restuff or whether sales can promise a new delivered cost. The cartons did not change. Type the all-in on the booking you can still make, and leave the circular in the inbox until that quote arrives.
This note is for importers and forwarders who already have a carton file and just received a carrier circular, a Drewry print, or a forwarder email that cites one. Rate forecasts and customs classification sit outside it. As of October 18, 2026, the useful move is still the same: keep the physical plan, get the all-in on the sailing you can still make, and type that number.
What a FAK circular actually is
Freight all kinds, often shortened to FAK, is the rate a carrier publishes for mixed cargo in a given period, usually per forty-foot box on a named trade. It is an ask, often with an effective date and an end date. The booking confirmation is the contract. The all-in on that confirmation is the figure that includes bunker, peak-season, emergency fuel, war-risk, and terminal lines.
An index is an average of assessed lanes. Drewry's World Container Index, for example, moved on October 15 because Asia–Europe rose after Golden Week, while Shanghai–New York fell. That composite is useful context. Your quote is the number the forwarder writes for your boxes. A circular that tries to push Asia–Europe toward $4,500 to $4,800 from October 19 is the same kind of object: a published level. The landed cost is the all-in on your booking.
If the forwarder sends a written all-in for the ship and the box you are actually loading, that is the number that belongs on the plan. If they send the circular instead, ask again. Until that reply arrives, the shipment's cost is still last week's all-in.
Why restuffing or repricing from the circular is the expensive response
Restacking costs labor, time against cutoff, and sometimes a second verified gross mass. Promising sales a new delivered cost from a circular costs something else: a customer conversation you cannot support when the booking comes back at last week's all-in, or at a number between the circular and the spot print.
Teams make two mistakes that look opposite and fail the same way. One restuffs because the circular is higher, chasing cube to "offset" a rate that is not on the invoice yet. The other tells sales the freight is higher because the circular is higher, then has to walk it back when the forwarder still has space at the prior all-in. Both moves treat a published ask as if it were already the booking.
A third mistake is mixing lanes. A composite can rise on Asia–Europe while a New York importer's lane falls. A circular for North Europe describes a different booking from a Mediterranean sailing. Price the trade this cargo will actually sail.
How to use the circular without reopening the floor
- Freeze the carton file. One row per SKU: length, width, height, packed weight, and the quantity for this shipment.
- Open the plan you already optimized. Note the container type, utilization, and leftover cartons.
- Ask the forwarder for the all-in on the sailing you can still make, in writing, with the surcharge lines named. Paste the circular if you want them to respond to it. Do not treat the circular as the reply.
- Type that all-in onto the saved plan. Compare cost per carton with last week's quote on the same plan. If a second box type is on offer, price that plan too, then pick the winner.
- Move the warehouse appointment only if the sailing or the cutoff moved. A new circular on the same ship does not move the gate.
Palletizr holds the file between steps 2 and 4. Enter the cartons once, optimize for space, and add the ocean rate when it lands. Fit the cargo, then price the quote you actually have. If you are still waiting on the quote, the earlier note on fitting the cargo before the rate arrives is the step before this one. If the forwarder later sends a lower all-in for the same box, reprice the load you already trust without restuffing.
What a circular with an end date is telling you
When a carrier puts a validity window on a FAK, for example through the end of the month, that window is a planning hint. The floor is the all-in on the booking confirmation. Forwarders read a short window as a sign the line expects the ask to move. That reading can be right or wrong on any given week. Budget the all-in on the booking confirmation.
If the circular was revised down after it was first issued, the lower figure becomes your rate when it is on your quote. A downward revision is a reason to ask again. Leave the warehouse plan as it is, and wait to tell the customer the freight fell until the lower number is on that quote.
Blank sailings belong on a different line. A cancelled departure changes whether the cargo makes the cutoff. The circular stays a published ask. Price the vessel that still exists.
What stays on the invoice
A war-risk or emergency line that is still on the invoice stays there. Those lines follow security circulars and the named voyage. Read them on the quote, separate from the FAK.
Duty stays on the commercial invoice. Packing tighter can change how many containers you need. The duty rate is unchanged, and an exclusion that expires on a fixed date still expires on that date.
A named Suez sailing is that ship's transit. If you are booked on a different ship, you still have that ship's transit time.
A short check before you tell sales the freight moved
Tell sales the freight moved only after three things are true: the forwarder requoted the shipment you are actually loading, the container type matches the plan, and the all-in you typed includes the surcharge lines that were on last week's invoice. If any of those is missing, tell sales that a circular took effect and the booking still needs a requote.
As of October 18, 2026. Confirm the all-in with the forwarder before you promise a customer a new delivered cost.