Shippers may have overpaid fuel surcharges on transpacific route
Analysis points to gaps of up to $475 per teu between charges and actual costs
Shippers moving boxes from the Far East to the US West Coast may have paid substantially more in fuel surcharges than carriers' actual costs this spring, according to analysis highlighted by a UK trade publication and drawn from data firm VesselBot.
In April, Maersk levied a fuel surcharge of $605 per teu and CMA CGM $710 per teu, against what VesselBot calculated as a true cost of $295 per teu, gaps of $310 and $415 respectively. Both lines held their charges into May even as the benchmark fell to $235 per teu, widening the gap to $370 for Maersk and $475 for CMA CGM. Published tariffs showed bunker adjustment factors of $405 to $445 per teu on top of emergency surcharges of $200 to $265.
VesselBot said its reference cost dropped about 20% between April and May as voyages were run more efficiently. On those figures, a shipper moving 1,000 teu in May could have avoided roughly $475,000 in surcharges, underlining how far standardised fuel fees can drift from underlying costs.
