Maersk adds $75 Nicaragua customs transit surcharge from 9 November

Maersk will charge shippers US$75 per container for a new Internal Customs Transit Surcharge on Store Door cargo moving through Nicaraguan ports, effective 9 November 2026. The carrier will add the fee automatically to quotations for any Store Door shipment that requires an internal customs transit declaration, the paperwork Nicaragua's regime knows as DUCA-T.

For importers and forwarders routing door deliveries through the Central American country, the surcharge lands as a fixed, per-box cost on top of ocean freight. Maersk said the charge covers the use of specialised customs personnel to process transit declarations and to coordinate clearance with port authorities and logistics providers on the customer's behalf.

What does the new charge actually buy?

The US$75 fee is not a broad port dues increase. It applies narrowly to Store Door shipments — cargo Maersk delivers to a named consignee address — that trigger a DUCA-T transit declaration.

In practical terms, shippers buying door terms into Nicaragua will see:

• An automatic US$75 per container added to quotes for DUCA-T-covered Store Door cargo;
• Separate invoicing, under CAI, PAE or PAI surcharge codes, for inspections, warehousing, port fumigation and other third-party services;
• A 3% financial fee on any payments Maersk makes to third-party service providers on the customer's behalf.

That 3% levy deserves attention from cost planners. If a shipment requires, say, several hundred dollars of fumigation or inspection services billed through Maersk, the disbursement fee compounds on top of the service cost itself — and it applies per payment event, not per shipment.

Why Maersk is formalising the charge

The carrier framed the move as a compliance and reliability measure. Maersk said the new customs arrangement is intended to support timely clearance and cargo delivery while ensuring compliance with local requirements.

Read commercially, the surcharge converts a back-office service — shepherding transit declarations through Nicaraguan customs and synchronising port and logistics providers — into a priced, itemised product line. Carriers across the trade have taken similar paths in recent years, unbundling ancillary handling costs that were previously absorbed into through-rates, and Nicaragua's DUCA-T regime gives Maersk a clear administrative hook for doing so here.

For shippers, the immediate consequence is quote transparency with a higher visible price. A shipper moving ten Store Door containers a month through Nicaragua will face US$750 in new surcharge spend per month, or US$9,000 per year, before any third-party service fees and the 3% disbursement levy enter the picture.

How should shippers and forwarders respond?

Forwarders booking on behalf of clients should check whether existing quotations issued before the effective date will be honoured at old terms for cargo arriving after 9 November 2026, and whether the CAI, PAE and PAI codes will appear as separate line items on invoices. Shippers with the in-house capability to file DUCA-T declarations themselves, or to contract local brokers directly, may dodge some of the 3% disbursement fee by keeping third-party payments off Maersk's books.

The split pricing also sharpens the comparison between Store Door and port-to-port terms on the Nicaragua trade. Door delivery now carries a visible administrative premium, which may push larger importers to weigh local clearance arrangements against Maersk's managed service.

Whether the US$75 figure holds steady or becomes the first of several Central American customs-handling fees will depend on how shippers respond and whether competing carriers serving Nicaraguan ports follow with matching charges of their own.