Ocean Oct 13, 2026 · 7 min read

November surcharges pile up: Maersk US fuel, CMA CGM Africa and Oceania, Swire West Coast

Maersk lifts US trucking fuel charge 54% as diesel falls. Maersk will raise its US inland fuel surcharge from US$140 to US$215 per container from 1 November, Container News reports. Our view: forwarders are now paying for spring and summer diesel, not today’s. EIA data show US diesel fell for two straight weeks to US$6.199 a gallon on 5 October. Maersk’s charge tracks a 13-week average, which lags. CMA CGM adds US$750 per TEU (20-foot box) on Far East–Durban from 22 October. Our call: Maersk’s US$215 stays in place until at least the end of 2026, even if pump prices keep easing.

Diesel is easing, but November freight bills are going up anyway

Maersk will raise its US inland fuel surcharge from US$140 to US$215 per container. That is a 54% increase. It applies to shipments with a Price Calculation Date on or after 1 November 2026, Container News reported on 12 October. The Price Calculation Date is the date Maersk uses to fix the price of a shipment.

The charge only applies when Maersk arranges the truck. That means moves to or from the customer’s door inside the US, under a Maersk ocean bill of lading. The industry calls this carrier haulage. It appears on the bill of lading as a separate line, coded IFS for imports and EFS for exports.

On its own, this is a routine fuel update. But it lands in the same week as three other carrier announcements. CMA CGM has new surcharges on Asia–Africa lanes and a rate increase on Oceania–Americas. Swire Shipping has new terminal charges at Long Beach and Oakland. Together they shape most November quotes on those lanes.

What we think is going on

Our view is that forwarders are now paying for diesel prices from the spring and summer, not today’s.

Fuel surcharges like Maersk’s follow a rolling average. They react slowly when prices rise and slowly when they fall. Right now the weekly diesel price is falling, but the average is still catching up from earlier highs. So the surcharge goes up just as fuel gets cheaper at the pump.

We don’t think carriers are doing anything improper. The mechanism is published. But a shipper who sees diesel falling in the news and a 54% fuel charge increase on the invoice will ask questions. Forwarders should have the answer ready.

The numbers behind it

Maersk says the 13-week average diesel price rose by more than US$0.10 a gallon, Container News reports. That rise adds to the cost of linehaul (the main truck leg), drayage (short port-to-warehouse trucking), depot moves and first-mile moves.

The weekly figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) show the other side. The national on-highway diesel average was: - US$6.529 a gallon on 21 September - US$6.382 on 28 September - US$6.199 on 5 October

That is two straight weekly falls, including a drop of US$0.183 in the latest week. Diesel is still US$2.488 a gallon higher than a year earlier, according to the EIA. The next EIA update is due on Wednesday 14 October.

Regional prices vary a lot, according to the EIA’s 5 October figures. California was US$8.082 a gallon and the wider West Coast was US$7.229. The Gulf Coast was US$5.819 and the East Coast was US$5.951. A flat per-container charge does not reflect that spread. A door move in Texas and one in California pay the same US$215.

How the charge started

This surcharge is not old. Maersk brought it in for shipments with a Price Calculation Date on or after 18 April 2026, at US$140 per container. It called the charge “temporary”.

Maersk’s reason at the time was direct: “The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has had a considerable impact on the international fuel market.” It added that “many refineries within the region are either offline or operating at reduced capacity, and export ability is very limited.”

The trigger is spelled out on Maersk’s page. A surcharge applies only when the 13-week average of the EIA’s weekly diesel price is above US$2.52 a gallon. When Maersk announced the charge, it cited an EIA average of US$5.30 a gallon as of 26 March. Diesel has stayed far above the US$2.52 trigger ever since.

The spring spike was fast. Commercial Carrier Journal, citing an index from Magnus Technologies, reported that diesel jumped US$0.96 in the week of 9 March, from US$3.90 to US$4.86. It reached US$5.643 on 6 April. The same report warned that surcharge schedules struggle to keep up with swings like that. “In a volatile market, manual or infrequent updates create a gap between actual fuel costs and what gets charged,” said Matt Cartwright, chief executive of Magnus Technologies.

That gap works in both directions. In spring it hurt truckers. Now that diesel is falling, it works against shippers.

Maersk is not alone. A Tradlinx round-up in April listed inland fuel charges from Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Seaboard Marine and TOTE Maritime. Most did not publish a single flat dollar figure. Instead they pointed to tariff documents or percentage schedules. Forwarders should check each carrier’s tariff directly and not assume they match Maersk.

Africa, Oceania and the US West Coast

The other three announcements this week matter just as much on their lanes.

Asia–Africa. CMA CGM has announced three peak season surcharges (PSS — an extra charge added when demand is high), each per TEU. A TEU is a twenty-foot equivalent unit, so a 40-foot box counts as two. - Far East to Durban: US$750 per TEU from 22 October, for all cargo. CMA CGM says it “will remain in effect until further notice”. On a 40-foot box that is US$1,500. - Southeast Asia to northern West Africa: US$200 per TEU from 15 October. This covers cargo on short-term contracts only. Destinations are Liberia, Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. - China to Mozambique: US$200 per TEU from 22 October, for all cargo, until further notice.

For China-origin cargo, the Durban and Mozambique charges depend on CMA CGM’s filing with the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, or may be folded into the freight rate. Bunker (ship fuel) charges, terminal handling and other local charges may also apply, Container News reports.

Oceania–Americas. CMA CGM has announced a US$300 per TEU Rate Restoration Initiative from 2 November. That is a general increase meant to push rates back up. It covers Oceania to the US East Coast, Canada East Coast, US Gulf and Latin America, and from the US East Coast, US Gulf and Canada East Coast back to Oceania. It applies to dry boxes, reefers (refrigerated containers), out-of-gauge cargo and paying empties. According to Container News, CMA CGM has not named individual ports or an expiry date.

US West Coast terminals. Swire Shipping will revise its terminal handling charges (THC — the fee for moving the box through the port) at Long Beach and Oakland from 15 November. The new rates per box are: - 20-foot, all types: US$455 - 20-foot reefer or special: US$505 - 40-foot, all types: US$700 - 40-foot reefer or special: US$750

What forwarders should do now

First, check quote validity. The West Africa charge starts on Thursday 15 October. Any quote sent this week for Southeast Asia–West Africa on short-term terms needs the US$200 included, or a validity that ends before the sailing it would hit. Durban and Mozambique quotes have a week longer, but not much.

Second, re-run the US door-move maths. At US$215 per container, Maersk’s fuel line is now worth comparing with your own trucker’s fuel surcharge. Arranging your own truck is called merchant haulage. On lanes where local truckers reset fuel weekly against the EIA figure, merchant haulage may already price lower in November. Carrier haulage still has benefits, such as one bill of lading and fewer handovers. But the price gap is now bigger.

Third, explain the lag to customers before they ask. A short note will do. It should say that the surcharge follows a 13-week average and that weekly diesel prices fell in late September and early October. That heads off disputes.

Fourth, update tariff tables for Long Beach and Oakland ahead of 15 November. Also make sure Oceania–Americas contracts show whether the US$300 is included.

Our prediction

Our call is that Maersk keeps its US inland fuel surcharge at US$215 or higher until at least 31 December 2026. The 13-week window still includes September weeks above US$6.38 a gallon, and even a steady weekly fall takes months to pull the average down. We also expect the Durban US$750 PSS to still be in force when January sailings are quoted. CMA CGM gave it no end date, and the carrier has not signalled one.

If weekly diesel drops below US$6 and stays there through November, watch for the first carrier to cut its inland fuel charge. We think that is a Q1 2027 story, not a Q4 one.

Sources