TOTE Maritime Starts Peak-Season Surcharge on U.S.-Virgin Islands Shipments

TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico began applying its 2026-27 peak-season surcharge Sunday to shipments between the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands, adding a seasonal charge to cargo departing during a five-month window that runs into early March.

The surcharge covers shipments involving St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John and is determined by the vessel departure date. TOTE set the effective period from October 4, 2026, through March 7, 2027, so cargo departing during that span falls within the published peak-season schedule. The carrier presents the applicable charges by shipment type rather than as one universal percentage.

Surcharge window runs through early March

In an October 2 trade notification, TOTE restated the effective dates and said the Peak Season Surcharge, or PSS, applies to all shipments between the United States and the three named Virgin Islands destinations. The company also tied the surcharge to the date of vessel departure. That makes the sailing date, rather than the booking date or delivery date, the key timing point for determining whether the seasonal charge applies.

The October 2 notice was not the first announcement of this season’s PSS. TOTE had published the same October 4 through March 7 window on August 21. The repeated notice confirms that the effective period remained unchanged as the start date approached and gave customers advance notice before the seasonal pricing began.

Peak-season pricing is also not new to this trade lane. For the prior season, TOTE published a surcharge covering October 5, 2025, through March 1, 2026, on shipments between the United States and St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John. The 2026-27 schedule keeps the same basic fall-to-early-spring structure, while shifting the start and end dates to October 4 and March 7.

TOTE describes the current PSS as a time-limited surcharge rather than a permanent change to the underlying rate structure. The published notice gives March 7, 2027, as the end of the current window. Unless the carrier later revises or extends that schedule, departures after that date fall outside the period identified in the notice.

Virgin Islands cargo moves through TOTE’s Puerto Rico network

The surcharge sits within TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico’s wider Caribbean operation. TOTE markets service from Jacksonville, Florida, to St. Thomas and St. Croix, and its Virgin Islands service page says cargo sailing to either island first moves through San Juan, Puerto Rico. That routing makes the Virgin Islands business part of the carrier’s Puerto Rico network rather than a separate direct mainland service.

The PSS notice is broader than the two port destinations highlighted on TOTE’s main Virgin Islands service page because it also names St. John. TOTE’s wording is explicit that the surcharge applies to shipments between the United States and St. Croix, St. Thomas or St. John. For cargo owners, the relevant question is therefore not just the final island destination but also whether the vessel departure falls inside the stated seasonal period.

TOTE’s Puerto Rico business handles several kinds of freight, including dry and refrigerated containers, personal vehicles, hazardous materials and certain non-containerized cargo. The PSS notice says the seasonal charge applies to all shipments on the affected U.S.-Virgin Islands lane and presents charges in a table by shipment type. That structure matters because the added cost is not described as a single percentage that can be applied uniformly to every booking.

The operation is part of TOTE Group’s domestic shipping business. TOTE says TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico has operated in the Jones Act trade since 1985 and routes cargo from North America to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Its U.S. mainland presence includes the Jacksonville area, while the company also maintains operations and customer-service infrastructure in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Peak-season charge is separate from fuel-related adjustments

The October 4 effective date also coincides with other pricing notices from TOTE, which makes it important to distinguish the PSS from separate fuel-related charges. A September 23 notice said TOTE would adjust its Intermodal Fuel Charge for the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands trades effective October 4. Separately, an October 2 Virgin Islands bunker-fuel notice said the carrier would maintain its then-current tariff bunker-fuel levels.

Those notices deal with different pricing components. TOTE has not said the new peak-season surcharge replaces the intermodal or bunker-fuel charges. A shipment can therefore be affected by the seasonal PSS while other tariff or accessorial items continue to be governed by their own rules, dates and cargo-specific conditions.

The distinction is visible in TOTE’s published personal-vehicle pricing as well. Its vehicle page says rates to St. Thomas and St. Croix include applicable bunker and environmental fees, the Total Accessorial Charge and the shipper export declaration when TOTE files it. The list of included items does not identify the newly effective PSS, so customers shipping during the seasonal window have reason to confirm the final quoted amount for the specific departure date and vehicle or cargo type.

For now, March 7, 2027, is the concrete endpoint in TOTE’s current peak-season notice. The surcharge applies according to vessel departure through that date, with any later change dependent on a new or revised carrier notice.