3–10%
of freight invoices contain errors
Industry benchmark
Industry benchmark
Freight bill audit
You already paid it.
Some of it wasn't owed.
Between 3% and 10% of freight invoices contain errors, and almost all of them favour the carrier. We review your paid airfreight invoices against what you actually contracted, file the claims, and chase the credits. If nothing comes back, you owe nothing.
Recovery estimatorBenchmark, not a quote
$
3% conservative4.0%5% typical high
Typically recoverable$80,000
Our fee — 40%, on recovery only$32,000
Net to you$48,000
Based on the published 3–5% industry benchmark for recoverable freight spend. Your actual figure depends on carrier mix, contract terms and how much of your spend is still inside the dispute window. Send a month of invoices and we will tell you the real number.
3–5%
of total freight spend typically recoverable
Across audited programmes
Across audited programmes
60%
of every recovery stays with you
We take 40%, and only on success
We take 40%, and only on success
The arrangement
Contingency. Nothing up front.
No retainer, no per-invoice fee, no software licence. We are paid out of money that was not going to come back to you otherwise, which means our incentive and yours point the same direction.
Our fee is 40% of what is actually recovered and credited to your account — not of what we identify, not of what we claim. If a carrier rejects a claim, that claim earns us nothing.
60%
Stays with you
40%
Massif 348, on recovery only
Third-party freight auditors commonly charge 40–50% on contingency, and historically 25–50%. We sit at the bottom of that band because we are building a book, not defending one.
What we audit
Scheduled airfreight invoices
This service reviews invoices from airlines and forwarders on scheduled air freight — where there is a contracted rate, a published tariff and an accessorial schedule to check the invoice against. That is what makes an audit possible.
Most common
Dimensional weight
Volumetric weight billed when actual weight was lower, or the carrier's own dim factor applied incorrectly. The single most frequent recoverable error in air freight.
High value
Surcharge misapplication
Fuel and security surcharges billed at a rate that does not match the published index for the actual date of flight. Small per shipment, large across a year.
Often missed
Service failure credits
Guaranteed or next-flight-out service that arrived late and was still billed in full. The credit is owed under the carrier's own service terms — it is rarely issued unless someone asks.
Straightforward
Duplicate billing
The same air waybill invoiced twice, sometimes weeks apart and across different statements. Easy to miss internally, easy to prove once found.
Contract drift
Rate discrepancies
The rate you negotiated against the rate that was actually applied. Weight breaks, lane exceptions and expired promotional rates are the usual culprits.
Unauthorised
Accessorials you did not incur
Handling, storage and special-service charges applied to shipments that never needed them, or that were already included in the contracted rate.
The clock
Why this is time-sensitive
Claim windows close fast
Air cargo claims run on short deadlines. Under the Montreal Convention, written complaint for damage must be made within 14 days of receipt and for delay within 21 days of the goods being placed at the consignee's disposal. Carrier billing-dispute windows vary by contract and are frequently measured in months, not years.
What that means practically: an invoice from eighteen months ago is usually beyond recovery no matter what is wrong with it. The money worth chasing is in your recent invoices, and every week that passes moves some of it out of reach. That is the honest reason to look at this sooner rather than at year end.
How it runs
Four steps
01 / SAMPLE
Send one month
A single month of paid airfreight invoices plus your rate agreement. Enough to show whether there is anything worth pursuing, and small enough that it costs you almost nothing to find out.
02 / REVIEW
Line by line
Each invoice checked against the contracted rate, the applicable surcharge index for the date of flight, and the service actually delivered. You get a written findings list, whether or not you go further.
03 / CLAIM
We file, not you
We prepare and submit the claims and handle the correspondence with the carrier. You do not write dispute letters or sit on hold.
04 / CREDIT
Paid on recovery
Credits go to your account. We invoice 40% of what actually landed, itemised against each claim, after it has landed.
Scope
Where this fits, and where it doesn't
Freight audit is a different service from charter brokerage, and it is worth being exact about the difference rather than letting the two blur together.
What this covers
- Scheduled airfreight invoices from airlines and forwarders
- Invoices billed against a contracted rate or published tariff
- Post-payment review and claim filing on your behalf
- A written findings report, whether or not you proceed
- Correspondence with the carrier until the claim resolves
What it does not
- Charter invoices — a charter is a negotiated one-off price with no tariff to audit against
- Ocean, rail, parcel or ground freight
- Invoices outside the carrier's dispute window
- Renegotiating your rates — this recovers against the rate you already hold
- Any guarantee of recovery. Some programmes are billed correctly, and we will tell you so
Start here
One month of invoices
Send a single month of paid airfreight invoices and your current rate agreement. We will come back with what we found and what we think is recoverable. If it is nothing, we will say so and there is no invoice.
Send a sample, or call and talk it through first. Either is fine — the sample tells us both whether this is worth either party's time.
- Audit enquiries
- charter@massif348.com
- Charter desk
- (689) 388-4893
- Office
- 111 NE 1st Street, 8th Floor #8493
Miami, FL 33132
Invoice data is handled under the terms set out in our privacy policy. We sign a non-disclosure agreement on request before receiving anything.