The subsidiary of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said it would introduce a $750 surcharge per 20 foot container (TEU) and a $1,000 surcharge per 40 foot container (FEU) on July 15.
Vincent Clerc, head of Maersk's Asia-Europe route, said demand on the route is up 23 percent so far this year compared with the previous year and demand in the third quarter -- the traditional peak season -- is also expected to be stronger than usual.
The high demand will lead to shortage of space on the vessels and for containers during the period, Clerc said.
"The utilisation on the vessels, the demand for transportation in the second quarter has been much higher than normal, which means there's less slack in the network to accommodate for the peak that is coming," he said.
Clerk said this year's high peak surcharges are higher, and will be introduced a bit earlier, than usual due to the strain on the network of vessels.
Global trade continues to recover from depressed levels in 2009, when the industry slashed capacity in response to the global downturn.
"A lot of the capacity has come back but the market increase is very atypical. Nobody's network has 23 percent slack," Clerk said.
Maersk has not set an end date for the peak season surcharges.
"It's a very atypical year, with very atypical numbers, so we cannot estimate," Clerc said. (Reuters)
