Maersk will apply a 24% inland fuel surcharge on eligible container drayage services in Canada from 1 November 2026, a steep add-on that lands directly on importers and exporters moving cargo through Canadian ocean terminals.

The temporary surcharge covers both Carrier Haulage and Multi-Carrier bookings, and Maersk will review the percentage monthly, leaving the door open to adjustments as market conditions shift. That review cadence matters for shippers budgeting door moves: a surcharge recalibrated every 30 days can move landed costs faster than annual contract negotiations can respond.

What does the surcharge cover?

The charge applies to inland haulage between ocean terminals and the first transport node — the Canadian drayage leg of import and export shipments where Canada is either the origin or destination.

Maersk has set out the mechanics plainly:

• Surcharge level: 24% of inland haulage cost
• Effective date: 1 November 2026
• Review frequency: Monthly
• Export charge code: EFS
• Import charge code: IFS
• Booking scope: Carrier Haulage and Multi-Carrier

Maersk attributes the charge to higher global energy prices and fuel availability pressures linked to the security situation in the Middle East — the same geopolitical dynamics that have rippled through bunker costs and ocean freight rates over recent months.

How will the surcharge be calculated?

The trigger date for pricing — the Price Calculation Date, or PCD — differs by trade lane regime:

• Non-FMC shipments: the PCD is the estimated departure date of the first vessel shown in the latest booking confirmation.
• FMC shipments: the PCD is the date when Maersk or an authorised agent takes possession of the final container listed on the transport document.

There is also a catch for late amendments. When customers add the inland destination service after the cargo has departed from its origin, Maersk will use the import shipment creation date to calculate the applicable surcharge — meaning shippers that defer inland routing decisions until after sailing will be priced at whatever level is in force when the import record is created, not at booking.

What does this mean for shippers and forwarders?

For Canadian shippers on carrier haulage door products, a 24% uplift on the drayage leg is material. Drayage is typically a modest share of total door-to-door cost, but on high-volume inland programs — Toronto or Montreal moves from Halifax, Vancouver or Prince Rupert gateways — the add-on compounds with every container.

Forwarders using Multi-Carrier bookings face the same exposure, and the monthly review clause means the 24% figure should be treated as a snapshot rather than a ceiling. The PCD rules reward early commitment of inland routing: locking the destination service into the original booking pins the surcharge to the vessel departure date, while late additions reprice at import creation.

Shippers with merchant haulage arrangements — arranging their own drayage — sit outside the charge's scope, which may sharpen the commercial case for managing inland moves independently on lanes where Maersk's door product carries a widening premium.

For Maersk, the surcharge is a passthrough mechanism: it protects the carrier's Canadian inland margin against fuel cost inflation and availability risk without repricing base ocean-inland products, and the monthly reset keeps that protection current.

With the Middle East security situation still feeding energy price volatility, the operative question for Canadian supply chains is not whether 24% holds, but which direction the monthly reviews take it through the winter of 2026.