Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF)

The Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) is a port use charge of 0.125 percent of the value of commercial cargo loaded or unloaded from a commercial vessel at a U.S. port covered by 19 CFR 24.24. For imports, the importer becomes liable at the time of unloading and pays the fee on the entry summary, on the value appraised by CBP, in the same way as duty.

What the HMF applies to

• Ocean imports: charged on the value of the goods discharged from the vessel, whether FCL, LCL or breakbulk. There is no minimum or maximum, so it grows with the value of the shipment
• Air cargo: not charged. The fee is tied to the use of a port by a vessel
• Exports: the Supreme Court held in United States v. U.S. Shoe Corp. (1998) that the fee violates the Export Clause as applied to exports

Exemptions in 19 CFR 24.24

• Bunker fuel, ship's stores, sea stores and vessel equipment
• Cargo moving between the U.S. mainland and Alaska, Hawaii or U.S. possessions
• Cargo moving in bond through a U.S. port for direct export
• U.S. government cargo, and certain humanitarian and development assistance cargo

How to read it on an invoice

The HMF appears on the broker's entry summary and duty invoice with the MPF, not on the ocean freight invoice. It is a government fee calculated on the value of the goods, not a carrier surcharge, and no freight quote includes it. Because it has no cap, it matters most on high-value ocean shipments; when planning an ocean-versus-air decision for expensive goods, include it in the landed cost.

Estimate the duty for an HTS code and origin with the tariff simulator, then add the MPF and HMF. On the ocean shipments Airlift carries, entries are filed by licensed brokers in its network through the customs clearance service.