Maersk will raise its Equipment Positioning Service charges at Fremantle by AUD 24 per container, an increase of roughly 11.4%, with new tariffs taking effect from 1 October 2026 for non-regulated countries and 23 October 2026 for regulated countries.

The revision applies to both imports and exports and covers all container types moving through the Western Australian gateway. The Equipment Positioning Service – Import (POI) charge rises from AUD 210 to AUD 234 per container, and the Equipment Positioning Service – Export (POE) charge moves from AUD 210 to AUD 234 on the same dates.

For shippers, the arithmetic is straightforward. A single box through Fremantle now attracts AUD 468 in combined import and export positioning charges, up AUD 48 on the previous level. An Australian importer or exporter running 100 containers a month through the port faces an additional AUD 28,800 in annual equipment positioning costs once the new tariffs bite, a line item that lands regardless of freight rate direction.

For forwarders and BCOs quoting Australia West Coast business, the change matters for contract timing. Cargo booked under tariffs effective before October 2026 escapes the increase; bookings after the switch dates inherit it. The split effective dates — 1 October for non-regulated countries and 23 October for regulated countries — mean the charge change does not land uniformly across trade lanes, and parties serving both regulated and non-regulated origin markets will need to manage two implementation dates in their quoting systems.

The staggered dates also reflect the notice periods regulators require in jurisdictions where tariff filings face scrutiny, a routine feature of carrier pricing in regulated trades. Australian import and export flows through Fremantle, the country's principal West Coast container port, will absorb the increase across all equipment types, from standard dry boxes to reefer and specialist units, since Maersk drew no distinctions between container categories.

Maersk framed the revision in broad service terms. The carrier said the revised charges support the continued provision of its service portfolio and network reliability — standard language that signals cost recovery rather than a specific infrastructure or operational trigger at the port.

For carriers more widely, the move is another data point in the steady upward drift of ancillary accessorials, the charges that sit outside headline ocean freight and often escape the attention focused on spot rate indices. Equipment positioning fees cover the cost of moving empty containers to where they are needed; in imbalanced trades such as Australia's, where export cargo demand and import container arrivals do not match, those repositioning costs are persistent and carriers recover them through precisely these per-box levies.

Shippers with volumes through Fremantle should expect the increase to surface in landed cost calculations from the fourth quarter of 2026, and procurement teams negotiating 2026-27 contracts with Maersk will want to lock in all-in rate structures that account for the higher POI and POE levels rather than discovering them at invoice stage.

The increase is modest in isolation but sets a marker: with AUD 234 now the baseline for both import and export positioning at Fremantle, further carrier-side cost recoveries at Australian gatesways remain likely if network economics stay tight.