Hapag-Lloyd will charge US$1,000 per 40-foot dry container on long-term shipments heading to East Coast South America under a new 30-day peak season surcharge (PSS) effective 5 November 2026.

The carrier set the PSS at US$500 per 20-foot dry container and US$1,000 per 40-foot dry container, according to its customer advisory. The surcharge runs for 30 days and applies to long-term bookings only, leaving short-term shipments outside its scope.

Where will the surcharge apply?

The PSS covers nine destination markets across the Americas:

• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• Caribbean
• Central America
• South America West Coast
• Colombia
• Venezuela
• Suriname

The destination list stretches well beyond East Coast South America proper, pulling Pacific-coast South America, Caribbean, Central American and North American discharge ports into a single surcharge band with no regional rate differentiation. Hapag-Lloyd will apply the identical $500 and $1,000 per-box rates across the full geographic scope.

How will long-term shippers be hit?

The $1,000 PSS stacks on top of base ocean freight, bunker adjustment factor (BAF) and any low-sulphur fuel surcharge already on the invoice. For a forwarder running 100 FEU weekly to Santos, Cartagena or Veracruz under an annual service contract, the surcharge adds $100,000 per week, or $300,000 across the full 30-day window.

The per-box rate scales linearly. A shipper moving 40 FEU weekly absorbs $40,000 per week. A smaller contract holder running five FEU weekly sees a $5,000 weekly addition. Dry container volumes transhipped via hub ports — including Panama, Kingston and Cartagena — face the same per-box charge on every leg.

What stays outside the surcharge?

Reefer, open-top, flatrack and tank containers are not named in the advisory. Short-term spot bookings also escape the charge. NVOCCs, spot-market buyers and shippers moving cargo outside annual contracts can route around the surcharge provided they book outside the long-term classification.

The narrow targeting of dry equipment points to specific demand pressure on standard boxes, rather than a broad-based rate increase across all container types.

What should contract holders do?

Shippers with master rate agreements bearing Hapag-Lloyd allocations to the named destinations face three options: absorb the $500–$1,000 per-box charge, attempt to renegotiate the service contract before 5 November, or shift long-term volumes to an alternative carrier that has not announced a matching surcharge.

Standard service contract terms generally require 30 days' notice for modifications, leaving shippers with limited time to adjust existing agreements before the PSS takes effect. Forwarders managing multi-carrier allocations can reshuffle dry volumes to lines without matching surcharges, then return to Hapag-Lloyd once the window closes.

What does the scope signal?

The decision to cluster nine destination markets under one surcharge band, with no regional differentiation between Atlantic and Pacific discharges, points to broad demand pressure across Hapag-Lloyd's western hemisphere network. The PSS targets both ends of the trade — eastbound cargo to the US, Canada and Mexico, and westbound cargo to South America's Pacific ports.

When does it end?

The surcharge expires 4 December 2026, closing a 30-day window that runs through the peak South America agricultural export season. Carriers frequently replace PSS mechanisms with quarterly GRI increases once capacity remains tight, so shippers should watch December rate announcements to determine whether the $1,000 charge rolls into base ocean freight or disappears when the surcharge lapses.