Container liner operators are seeking to claw back the additional cost of sailing around Africa with a raft of hefty or novel surcharges.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is to hike the price of shipping a container from Europe to Asia with a surcharge not seen before in container shipping.
The Geneva-based carrier is asking shippers for an extra $1,000 per forty-foot equivalent unit (feu) with the introduction of a Contingency Adjustment Charge (CAC) on 1 January 2024.
The CAC be applied for shipments from Europe to the Far East.
It is designed to cover the transit time of avoiding the Suez Canal and taking the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope.
The surcharge is significantly above spot rates in the region of $200 to $300 per container on the trade.
Yet the amount being asked for pales in comparison to shipments to the Red Sea, where MSC is asking shippers to pay a $2,000 per feu surcharge.
Similarly, CMA CGM is seeking to charge $2,700 per feu to cover the cost of loading or discharging at ports in the Red Sea. The French carriers said rerouting of vessels away from potentially unsafe areas was “a necessary step which comes at a cost.”
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd has announced an Operational Recovery Surcharge (OCR) of $1,000 per feu between Europe and Middle East Gulf.
170 vessels
The surcharges come at a difficult time for shippers who were facing a raft of additional costs.
Even before the Red Sea crisis erupted, lines had been planning to increase freight rates or even double them in some instances ahead of Chinese New Year next February. These shipments now face additional peak season surcharges (PSS) and war risk surcharges.
The surcharges are expected to continue as the number of delayed or diverted vessels keeps increasing.
More than 170 vessels had been diverted south of Africa by 20 December, according to digital freight forwarder Flexport.
About 35 had been delayed in the Red Sea, it added.
Rerouting is expected to extend transit times between 10 to 14 days, meaning carrier costs for fuel and crew significantly increase.
