DHL Express said it will raise the fuel surcharge on its air and international package shipments to 18 percent for June 4 to July 1, topping the 16 percent fuel fee planned by U.S. rivals FedEx Express and UPS.

DHL's surcharge for May is 14.5 percent, compared with 13.5 percent at FedEx and 12.5 percent at UPS.

DHL also said it will increase the diesel fuel fee for ground shipments to 4.3 percent in June from 3.8 percent now. FedEx and UPS both have their ground package fuel surcharges at 3.75 percent and are raising them to 4.25 percent for June.

Like its larger rivals, DHL Express said its air shipments surcharge is based on an index tied to the price of kerosene-style jet fuel in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, as reported by the Energy department.

DHL said in a Web site posting that its surcharge calculation is linked to the monthly rounded average for Gulf prices. But DHL uses the average from two months earlier to set its new fee level, so the June surcharge was based on the monthly average from April.

It uses the same approach for its ground fee, which is linked to a rounded monthly average from the government's weekly survey of retail diesel prices at filling stations around the country.

So the surcharges now going into place reflect price pressures from the middle of spring, while prices in may will not be reflected until the July surcharges that will not be set until about a month from now.

The surcharges the three big package delivery firms have announced for June are the highest so far this year. The UPS air surcharge is its highest ever, because UPS maintained a cap on its fuel surcharge level in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last fall while competitors' fuel fees rose in line with spiking jet fuel prices.

John D. Boyd