ONE adds 12% Kenya rail fuel surcharge from November

By Marcus Bennett

Ocean Network Express (ONE) will apply a 12% Inland Fuel Surcharge to rail services for cargo loaded or discharged in Kenya, beginning November 18, 2026 on non-FMC-regulated trades.

ONE said the Emergency Inland Fuel Premium will be calculated against the “applicable inland base rate.” The surcharge therefore adds 12% to the rail base component, not automatically to every line in a shipment invoice. Because the announcement does not disclose the underlying base amount, it cannot establish the cash increase for a specific movement.

The carrier attributes the adjustment to fuel-price changes published by Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA). For shippers, the practical effect depends on how much of the total rail cost the base rate represents: a larger base-rate share produces a larger invoice effect from the same 12% surcharge.

Which trades start when?

• November 18, 2026: The surcharge takes effect for non-FMC-regulated trades.
• December 4, 2026: The surcharge takes effect for FMC-regulated trades and trade with Canada.

ONE’s stated FMC scope covers the United States, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan and Hawaii. The notice names no individual rail corridor or service, so its dates define trade coverage but do not provide a route-specific cash rate.

What changes for shippers and forwarders?

For shippers, the immediate effect is a 12% addition to ONE’s applicable inland rail base rate when cargo is loaded or discharged in Kenya, subject to governing tariff terms. The notice says nothing about ocean freight, trucking, port handling, transit time or capacity, so it does not evidence a wider logistics disruption.

For forwarders, quoting and billing become the control point. A quote retaining the old base rate alone will understate the tariff-backed charge, while a quote that adds 12% may conflict with a negotiated service contract or regulator-filed term. Forwarders should establish which rate components the customer accepts and which document controls each shipment.

For ONE, the surcharge provides a mechanism to pass through an inland fuel-cost change without resetting every base rate. It also creates exposure if fuel costs ease, because the announcement specifies no automatic withdrawal trigger. The commercial test will therefore be the fuel-cost movement, not demand or rail capacity.

ONE said charges differing from its published tariff “can only apply when formally agreed through a service contract or filed with the relevant regulator.” It added: “In all other cases, the carrier’s published tariff will apply.” Shippers should therefore check the contract and tariff position before assuming that every quotation follows the same surcharge calculation.

Can the 12% be tested against fuel prices?

The announcement provides no EPRA fuel-price series, reference period or calculation table. Shippers and forwarders therefore cannot verify from it whether 12% corresponds to the fuel-cost change cited by the carrier. Nor does it state an end date, review cadence or threshold for removal. “Emergency” describes the premium’s name, not a promised expiry.

Without a removal rule, rate relief depends on a future carrier, contract or regulatory decision rather than an automatic link to lower Kenya fuel benchmarks. That makes the surcharge structure more durable than the announcement’s emergency label implies, at least until a tariff, contract or regulatory change intervenes.

What data are missing?

The notice gives no Kenya corridor list, TEU or tonnage volumes, service frequency, rail-operator name, base-rate amounts or currency, or port-level figures. Without those inputs, the impact can be expressed only as 12% of the applicable base rate, not as a per-shipment, per-TEU or per-tonne amount.

High-volume accounts still need their applicable base rate to convert the percentage into a cash charge. That limitation also blocks any claim that the surcharge reflects a shortage, a particular port call or a change in Kenya’s rail capacity. The notice supports a fuel-linked tariff adjustment only; it does not support a broader capacity diagnosis.

Unless a service contract or filed tariff changes the mechanics, affected ONE rail shipments should carry the 12% surcharge from November 18 or December 4, making Kenya rail pricing—not capacity—the next variable to watch.