Peak-season surcharges are easy to accept while berths are tight and then hard to notice when the calendar turns. Invoice templates keep printing the same line long after the notice period ends.
Pull the carrier’s surcharge notices alongside your signed rate sheet. Confirm the effective dates and whether the surcharge applies by origin, trade lane, or vessel sailing. If the notice expired and no renewal arrived, the billed line is a candidate for dispute.
Bunker adjustment factors need the same date discipline. Compare the published index week cited on the invoice with the week your booking was confirmed. A one-week offset can change the factor enough to matter across a full month of sailings.
Detention and demurrage belong in a separate pile. They are operationally driven, not tariff leftovers, and mixing them with peak-season lines muddies the recovery conversation.
A freight and surcharge check at DistSysNet usually starts with one carrier account and one trade lane. That keeps the evidence pack small enough for a credit request that a carrier desk can answer.