French container ship giant CMA CGM announced it will maintain the emergency bunker surcharges, as of 1 July, due to the increasing bunker prices since the beginning of the year.
Unfortunately, prices have continued to rise even more sharply recently. As a result, CMA CGM Group decided on May 25th to recover bunker costs through its bunker-related surcharges which was applied to all cargo on all worldwide trades.
Because bunker prices have remained high, the CMA CGM Group has decided to maintain these measures. Consequently, as from July 1st (date of loading), these bunker-related surcharges, based on the average of bunker prices in May, will be applied to all long-haul cargo Worldwide with the following amounts:
These amounts will continue to be reevaluated on a monthly basis.
In late May, Maersk, MSC, and CMA CGM, making up together more than 45% of the global container capacity, announced introduction of Emergency Bunker Surcharges, due to increasing fuel costs. This has erupted a wave of concern from global stakeholders of the maritime industry, including the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), the European Shippers’ Council (ESC), and the British International Freight Association (BIFA).
According to online freight forwarder iContainers, the EBS may be seen as a side effect of some as carriers’ efforts to inject more pricing transparency, but a better and more sustainable solution will be needed in the long run.
