Emergency fuel surcharges within weeks of the Hormuz disruption. Peak season surcharges in a well-supplied market. Surcharges have become the freight industry's default response to volatility, and the debate over them is getting louder. Here is what the data says, and what shippers can do about a cost they never forecast.
Emily Stausbøll
Watch how fast it happened this year.
Within weeks of the Strait of Hormuz disruption in early 2026, emergency fuel surcharges appeared across the market, and by spring every major container line had an active EFS or EBS program, with some extending the charges to inland and intermodal legs. June brought a wave of peak season surcharge announcements on the Asia to Europe and transpacific trades, with carrier announcements and trade press reporting surcharges in the range of $500 to $1,200 per container; and in some cases, up to $2,000 per FEU. When fighting in the Middle East intensified again in late July, a second round of emergency fuel surcharges followed for August, reversing reductions that had only just begun.
Three surcharge waves in six months, on top of the general rate increase announcements arriving in between. The surcharge has become the freight industry's default response to volatility. Whatever the disruption, the answer arrives as a new line item, at short notice, mid-contract, and outside anything you budgeted. (....)