CMA CGM adds $35/TEU Black Sea war-risk surcharge after sinking

By James Calloway

CMA CGM will impose a US$35-per-TEU war-risk surcharge on cargo to and from Black Sea countries from 9 November, following the sinking of the ZIM-chartered feeder Contship Jet.

The charge starts 12 days after the vessel sank and gives shippers the clearest immediate cost signal from the incident. At the published TEU rate, one 40-foot container, equivalent to two TEUs, adds US$70 before base freight and other charges.

For carriers, that is a newly priced element on covered voyages; for forwarders, it is a separate number that must be communicated in quotations and booking discussions. The announcement does not detail individual booking terms or broader schedule changes.

What happened to Contship Jet?

Three sea drones struck the Liberian-flagged ship at noon on 28 October, according to the Bulgarian Navy and government. The attack occurred in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone, outside Bulgarian territorial waters, while the Contship Jet was sailing from Haifa to Constanta.

Navy ships rescued all 18 crew within two hours and took them to Varna. By that evening, Bulgaria’s state news agency BTA reported that about 20 of the vessel’s 421 containers had gone overboard.

The ship sank around midnight with the remainder of its cargo. According to the manifest cited by BTA, that cargo included lithium-ion batteries, corrosive liquids and acids.

The chronology matters because the casualty occurred on a regional route while CMA CGM’s surcharge covers cargo to and from Black Sea countries, not only the Haifa-Constanta sailing. The price measure therefore reaches beyond the affected vessel and its charter.

Do Constanta and Varna show an immediate capacity pullback?

WTCP Intelligence’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) data show no fall in container ship calls at either Constanta or Varna after the sinking. That is the clearest available indication that the two ports did not register an immediate pullback in recorded ship calls.

The available data provide no absolute call totals, TEU throughput, berth utilization or capacity percentage. The 421-container figure is a cargo count, not a disclosed slot-utilization rate. The AIS finding therefore supports a narrow conclusion of no observed fall in calls, not proof that future capacity or cargo volumes will remain unchanged.

What changes for shippers and forwarders?

For shippers, the surcharge is immediate and measurable. The stated rate is US$35 for each TEU, or US$70 for one 40-foot container. For CMA CGM, the move creates a war-risk cost on covered cargo. For forwarders, it adds a pricing variable to quotations for any affected shipment.

ZIM was the charterer of Contship Jet, while CMA CGM imposed the surcharge. CMA CGM was not identified as the owner or operator of the sunk feeder. That distinction keeps the casualty and rate action separate while leaving their common commercial context: higher risk costs amid no visible retreat in calls at Constanta or Varna.

The cargo manifest adds another operational fact because the sinking involved lithium-ion batteries, corrosive liquids and acids rather than empty boxes. No details have been reported on cargo recovery, schedule disruption outside this sailing or wider port congestion. Those gaps limit any conclusion about knock-on capacity effects.

The next measurable checkpoints are whether 9 November brings additional rate changes, whether AIS calls at Constanta and Varna remain stable, and whether other carriers respond with broader war-risk charges. Until then, the evidence supports a concrete US$35-per-TEU increase and no observed fall in port calls, not a broader capacity contraction.