Maersk revises North America peak surcharge from Indian Subcontinent and Middle East

Maersk will charge US$3,400 per container as a Peak Season Surcharge (PSS) on every shipment from the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East to the US and Canadian West Coast from 23 October 2026. That single figure applies across the carrier's entire westbound equipment range — no discounts for box size or reefer cargo.

The revision covers more than the West Coast. Maersk has also reset the PSS for dry containers moving to the US East Coast, US Gulf Coast and Canadian East Coast, and there the numbers climb sharply.

What are the new surcharge levels?

West Coast-bound cargo pays a flat US$3,400 regardless of equipment. The rate covers:

• 20-foot dry
• 40-foot dry
• 40-foot high cube dry
• 45-foot high cube dry
• 20-foot reefer
• 40-foot high cube reefer

East Coast and Gulf Coast dry cargo splits into two tiers. Maersk charges US$5,150 per container for 20-foot dry, 40-foot dry, 40-foot high cube and 45-foot high cube boxes from Northwest India, Nepal and Bhutan to all ports — except Houston. Houston stands apart. Cargo from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan into the Texas gateway pays US$5,700 per box, the highest level in the revised structure.

The spread matters. A shipper routing the same dry container to Houston pays $2,300 more in surcharge than one discharging on the West Coast. That gap is the story, and it will shape routing decisions well before vessels sail.

Which origins does the surcharge touch?

The origin scope is broad. It covers the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Bhutan, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen — effectively the full Middle East and Indian Subcontinent catchment Maersk serves across its North America network.

All three destination coasts sit inside the revision. The new levels apply to cargo moving to the North American West Coast, East Coast and Gulf Coast alike, with effect from 23 October 2026.

What does this change for shippers?

The practical question is simple: how much more will a booking cost, and where? The answer is a flat $3,400 westbound, $5,150 to East and Gulf Coast ports for the India-Nepal-Bhutan origin cluster, and $5,700 into Houston for the wider South Asian origin group. Reefer shippers face the West Coast figure only under the published structure; the East and Gulf tiers as published apply to dry equipment.

For forwarders, the effective date is the working constraint. Bookings with vessels departing on or after 23 October 2026 inherit the revised levels. Quotations built on earlier surcharge assumptions need reworking now, particularly for Houston-bound cargo from the Indian Subcontinent, where the $5,700 tier represents the steepest uplift in the schedule.

The mechanism is standard PSS practice. Peak season surcharges let carriers layer temporary pricing on top of base ocean rates and bunker adjustments when demand runs hot, and Maersk's revision keeps that structure intact — it adjusts the level, not the instrument. Shippers will see the surcharge as a separate line on their invoices, which makes the cost visible but not negotiable at the box level.

For carriers, the tiering signals where Maersk expects the tightest capacity. The premium on Houston — $550 above the general East and Gulf tier — points to the Gulf gateway as the pressure point in this trade. Watch whether rival carriers on the Indian Subcontinent–North America lanes match the revision in the coming weeks, because aligned surcharge moves typically mark the start of a broader peak season pricing push.