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Freight index flat, bill up? Look at the bunker surcharge
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Freight index flat, bill up? Look at the bunker surcharge

Sadaf Masood

Because fuel does not reach your invoice through the spot index. It reaches you through the carrier's emergency bunker surcharge, a separate line on the bill of lading that moves on the carrier's own schedule and appears on no index at all. If you priced a shipment off an index reading, you priced the wrong line.

Maersk's Emergency Bunker Surcharge has applied "globally without exception" since 25 March 2026: US$400 on a 40-foot dry container on long-haul headhaul, US$200 on backhaul and on intra-regional trades, US$200 and US$100 respectively on a 20-foot box. Reefers run higher. The surcharge, in the carrier's own words, "will be monitored regularly and adjusted if relevant — upwards or downwards — based on fuel availability, cost and mix". There is no review date in that sentence, which is exactly the point: it can change between the day you are quoted and the day your box is loaded.

The column does move — look at the inland version

Maersk's inland equivalent is reviewed weekly, and two months of readings show the range. On 8 July the Emergency Inland Fuel/Energy Surcharge on Store Door shipments was 4 per cent in Denmark and 3 per cent in Estonia. From 9 September Estonia is 20 per cent, Denmark 13, Latvia 12, Sweden 9, Finland 5 and Lithuania 4, with Norway still at zero. Same mechanism, same carrier, percentages reset weekly as conditions develop.

Container News report listing Maersk's Emergency Inland Fuel and Energy Surcharge from 9 September 2026 at 20 per cent in Estonia, 13 in Denmark, 12 in Latvia and 9 in Sweden
The weekly-reviewed inland version of the same surcharge, between July and September. From Maersk introduces new surcharges across South America and Nordic region, Container News, 9 September 2026

The ocean surcharge has no such calendar, which is why it sat still through the week to 11 September, when Brent settled up 8.7 per cent at $104.61. Sitting still is not the same as being fixed, and the inland numbers are what "adjusted if relevant" looks like once someone is actually reviewing it.

Why the index stays flat while this happens

Because the composite is an average of routes moving in opposite directions, and because carriers manage it. Drewry's World Container Index this week fell 1 per cent to $4,468 for a 40-foot box — while Shanghai to Los Angeles rose 2 per cent to $7,838 and Shanghai to Rotterdam fell 4 per cent to $3,485. A composite that barely moves is hiding a transpacific that is climbing and an Asia–Europe leg that is falling, and behind both, carriers cancelling sailings to hold rates up: fifteen blanked on the transpacific, seven announced on Asia–Europe for next week against three this week.

So the index is a market average managed by the people selling into it. It is a useful read on where capacity is going. It is not a price you can index a contract to, and it was never where the fuel went.

What to put in the freight line

Write it as "sea freight subject to the carrier's bunker surcharge applicable on the date of loading", and name the carrier. That is checkable by both sides against a page the carrier publishes, which is more than "subject to fuel price changes" ever gives you.

Then do three things before you accept a rate. Ask your forwarder for the current surcharge by trade and direction, not as a single figure — headhaul and backhaul differ by a factor of two on the same box. Ask whether the rate you were quoted is inclusive of it or not, because a quote that excludes it and a quote that includes it are not comparable. And if the shipment includes a door delivery, ask for the inland surcharge separately: that is the line that has been moving weekly, and on a short leg a double-digit percentage is real money.

If you are costing an import and want the landed figure written with the surcharge line already in it, ask Vesprr Tools for a quotation.

Sources