Maersk will charge shippers $300 per FEU on dry and specialty loads moving from Rotterdam and key Mediterranean ports to Durban under a Peak Season Surcharge that takes effect on 15 October 2026 and runs until further notice.

The ocean carrier published the tariff on its Europe-to-South Africa service, excluding Mozambique, citing strong demand and limited capacity on the lane. Maersk will charge $225 for each twenty-foot container moving from Rotterdam, Barcelona or Port Said to Durban; 40-foot and 45-foot units will carry the $300 rate.

What is Maersk actually paying for?

The surcharge covers a broad equipment mix: dry, high-cube dry, bulk, collapsible flat rack, flat rack, hive, pallet-wide, open-top, tank and twin-deck boxes. The wide scope suggests Maersk is protecting yields across nearly every commodity type moving southbound from Europe to South Africa, rather than targeting a single segment.

Which origins fall under the surcharge?

The North European scope spans 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

The Mediterranean scope reaches further. It includes Southern and Southeastern Europe, North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Barcelona and Port Said anchor the reference origins on that side.

How will the PSS hit shippers and forwarders?

Maersk will exclude SPOT bookings from the surcharge. For all other contracts, the levy depends on the Price Calculation Date. Forwarders running tendered volumes on long-term contracts will absorb the PSS on their buy side and face pressure from shippers to pass it through on the sell side.

Spot customers will see no change at the quoted rate. That structure gives Maersk a commercial reason to push volume onto its digital booking platform during the peak window.

What does the timing signal about capacity?

Maersk's notice lands at the start of a busy European shipping window for southern Africa. The "until further notice" wording signals an open-ended levy rather than a defined peak-season deadline.

By pricing the surge rather than absorbing it, the carrier is signaling that vessel slots on the North Europe–South Africa and Med–South Africa strings have tightened. The reference origins — Rotterdam, Barcelona, Port Said — are the load-point anchors on the published tariff.

Is the currency confirmed?

Maersk did not specify the currency of the published amounts in its customer notice. Shippers should treat the $225 and $300 figures as indicative pending confirmation of the local billing currency.

What equipment does the surcharge touch?

• Dry containers
• High-cube dry containers
• Bulk containers
• Collapsible flat racks
• Flat racks
• Hive containers
• Pallet-wide containers
• Open-top containers
• Tank containers
• Twin-deck containers

What's the forward-looking read?

The "until further notice" wording points to an open-ended levy. Maersk typically rolls PSS levies forward in monthly cycles while congestion or yield pressure persists.

If demand softens on the Europe–South Africa string, the carrier could withdraw the charge. If capacity stays tight through Q4 2026, the $300/FEU figure could anchor 2027 contract negotiations on the lane.