Cross-border trucking costs. Permits, road charges and tolls.

A cross-border load carries costs a local load never sees: permits, foreign road charges, tolls in another currency and more waiting. Leave one out and the premium you charged for crossing the border disappears. This guide lists what to price, with the official source for each.

Charges change. The figures below were checked on 1 October 2026; confirm them with the authority before you quote.

Your South African permit

Goods vehicles crossing into neighbouring countries need a cross-border permit from the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency. You can apply online through the agency's Cross-Easy portal or in person in Centurion; the fees are published on its permits page (C-BRTA). Spread the permit cost over the trips it covers.

From 1 April 2026, a freight permit for a vehicle over 20 000 kg (C-BRTA class 2) costs R 9 041 for 12 months: an application fee of R 823 plus an issue fee of R 8 218. A five-year permit is R 12 320, plus an annual compliance fee of R 1 962, and a 14-day temporary permit is R 2 264. The fees are per vehicle, per country in which you pick up or set down goods (C-BRTA). New permits must be advertised before they are issued, so apply well before the first trip.

Charges country by country

Time is a cost too

Border queues and clearing add hours, and sometimes days, to a trip. Those hours carry the truck's fixed costs and the driver's allowance. Work out your own average crossing time per border post from past trips, and price it in as time, not distance.

That may improve over the next few years: six border posts are being rebuilt, including Beitbridge and Lebombo. Until the work is done, price the crossings you actually experience.

Worked example: Johannesburg to Maputo

Here is a full quote for an interlink taking a load from Johannesburg to Maputo and returning empty. The running costs come from our cost per kilometre guide. Distance, allowance, border time, the number of trips a year and the exchange rate are example inputs, not benchmarks.

• Distance: 580 km each way, via the N12 to eMalahleni and then the N4 through Lebombo and Ressano Garcia (example; check the plazas on your own route)
• Diesel: 46 L per 100 km loaded, 38 L empty, all bought in South Africa at the September 2026 inland price of R 30,05 for 50 ppm (The Citizen)
• Tyres and maintenance R 4,20 per km; fixed costs R 6,80 per km
• South African tolls, class 4: Middelburg R 365, Machado R 729 and Nkomazi R 405, R 1 499 each way (TRAC N4). The tariffs include VAT (SANRAL), which a VAT vendor claims back, so the quote carries R 1 303,48 excl. VAT.
• Mozambican tolls, class 4: Moamba MZN 1 800 and Maputo MZN 550, MZN 2 350 each way (TRAC N4). At an example rate of MZN 3,50 to the rand, that is R 671,43. Use the rate on the day you pay.
• C-BRTA 12-month permit for Mozambique, R 9 041, spread over 24 trips a year (example): R 376,71 a trip
• Driver allowance for the round trip R 1 500, and one extra day of fixed costs for both border crossings together, R 3 709,09 (R 81 600 a month over 22 working days)

A price of R 42 000 leaves R 5 064,02 over the round trip cost, a margin of 12,1%. If you are contracted for the whole journey, the load is zero-rated, so the invoice carries VAT at 0% (see below). Notice how much of the cost is the empty return and the border day: a backload from Maputo, or a faster crossing, changes the picture more than any toll.

VAT on a cross-border load

International transport of goods, into or out of South Africa, is zero-rated for VAT. A local leg can also be zero-rated when the same transporter is contracted to the same customer for the whole journey (SARS VAT 404, section 6.3.8). If you only haul the South African leg as a subcontractor to another transporter or a forwarder, you are not the one contractually liable for the whole journey, so your charge to them will generally carry VAT at 15% (SARS); the guide applies the same reasoning to a domestic flight that forms part of an international trip (SARS VAT 404, example 13). Keep the documents that prove the goods crossed the border, and check your own case with a tax practitioner.

Currencies

Foreign charges are paid in the local currency. Record each charge in the currency you paid it in, convert at the rate on the day you paid, and quote the customer in the currency your contract uses. If the contract is in another currency, agree who carries the exchange risk before the truck leaves.

Checklist for a cross-border quote

• C-BRTA permit, spread over the trips it covers
• Foreign road charges and tolls for every country on the route, both ways
• South African tolls to and from the border
• Crossing time, priced as fixed cost and allowance
• The empty return, unless there is a backload
• VAT treatment agreed and documented

The rest of the quote is built the same way as a local load: see the worked quote.