Spotlight
Middle East surcharges coming to US trades
Forwarders and US shippers starting in early April face surcharges tied to war in the Middle East ranging from $ 25 per TEU to as much as $ 3,000 per TEU. CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk and Zim Integrated Shipping Services had sought to implement various surcharges aimed at recouping higher costs from the disruption in March, but the Federal Maritime Commission( FMC) on March 24 voted 4-0 to reject their individual requests to waive the 30-day review period for new fees.“ In my view, when a carrier seeks special permission to reduce the 30 days’ notice period for a surcharge, the carrier should demonstrate how its increased costs are linked to the dollar amount of the proposed surcharge,” FMC Chairman Laura DiBella said in a statement.“ An assertion that there are increased costs, without any data on what those costs are, how long they may last, and what steps the carrier is taking to mitigate them, is insufficient in demonstrating good cause.” The surcharge notices filed with the FMC are just one of the ways container lines are trying to recoup the higher costs. Cargo contracted on a long-term basis rather than via freight-all-kinds( FAK) rates are subject to bunker adjustment factors reset quarterly and floating fuel surcharges that can be reset as frequently as monthly. Zim’ s surcharge, at $ 25 per TEU applies to all US trades, while the charges for the other three carriers, ranging from $ 1,500 per TEU to $ 3,000 per TEU, apply only to their US-Middle East services.
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War brings shipping chaos, opportunities
The war in the Middle East is frustrating for some shippers while providing openings for growth in US exports for others. As of late March, cold chain shippers with containers destined for the Middle East are in a state of suspended animation with reefer boxes offloaded early at other ports in the region and no timeline on when their voyages will be able to resume through the war zone. Ocean carriers have suspended the acceptance of reefer, dangerous goods and special cargo in and out of the UAE, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia until further notice. Reefer containers that were inbound when the war started on Feb. 28 have been dropped off and plugged into reefer slots in terminals outside the Persian Gulf, accruing mounting storage charges and leaving cargo owners waiting until shipping can again pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The injection of containerized cargo by ocean carriers into a land-based transport network not set up to handle such volume is placing road and rail options in the
The war in the Middle East and its impact on regional and international supply chains is a rapidly developing story. The following coverage reflects the information and data available as of March 25, when this issue of the Journal of Commerce was going to press.
Middle East under increasing pressure.“ The infrastructure was not originally designed to accommodate such a high level of incremental trucking demand, particularly given the longer distances resulting from cross-country movements,” a spokesman for Hapag-Lloyd told the Journal of Commerce. Meanwhile, US resin exports have ticked
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higher as the war in the Middle East shuts off the largest source of global plastics supply. The sustainability of the export demand, though, hinges largely on the war’ s duration and the capacity of North American producers to make more resins. Export container bookings for resins hit 6,191 on March 16, according to maritime visibility provider Vizion.
6 Journal of Commerce | April 6, 2026 www. joc. com