Peak Season Surcharges : Off the scale or justified

Freight forwarders challenge latest Maersk Peak Season Surcharge 

Major freight forwarders with involvement in the Asia/Europe trade arequestioning the reasons behind the latest Peak Season Surcharge (PSS) tobe introduced by Maersk on the Asia/North Europe and Asia/Mediterraneantrade from July 15th As first reported by PR News Service Copy 6749,

June 8th, those surcharges will be : As reported under Copy 6749, Maersk will implement a Peak Season Surcharges from July 15th

• Asia/North Europe - US$750/teu
• Asia/North Europe - US$1,000/feu
• Asia/North Europe - US$1,200/40 ft hi cube
• Asia/Med - US$600/teu
• Asia/Med- US$800/feu
• Asia/Med - US$1,000/40ft hi cube

One leading freight forwarder is "actively challenging this level of surcharge on behalf of its customers", strongly suggesting the Peak season surcharge is far above any reasonable increase, and has voiced concerns other lines will follow the lead of Maersk 

We suspect that this is the first of a number of similar announcements from other carriers who will follow suit with these significant surcharges The same freight forwarder also questioned the reasons behind equipment shortage (see our earlier reports), believed to be partly responsible for the latest Peak Season Surcharges "The equipment shortages have been primarily caused by the slow steaming policies of shipping lines to save on fuel costs "These measures mean that containers are spending as much as 20 days longer at sea because of increased round trip schedules", a move that adds the pressure on ensuring the equipment is back in the source location in time to cater for market upturns Another freight forwarding company with global offices, claimed the Peak season surcharge was "incredibly high and that it is being introduced without any "real reason", and is certain to, "set a trend for other lines to jump in with similar increases", that would eventually, "lead to huge hike rates in the peak season" One major shipper involved in the Asia/Europe trade claimed today, "We are very concerned about this increase, and to us it is just thebeginning of a significant increase in rates right now, disguised as a peak surcharge, but that will eventually be folded into the overall rate pricing in the upcoming peak season