Both CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd have announced surcharges to and from US East Coast and Gulf ports as a dockworker strike threat draws closer.

At a Glance

• Negotiations between unions and employers remain at impasse less than two weeks from 1 October deadline

• CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd announce surcharges for all US East Coast and Gulf ports

• Biden Administration not expected to invoke Taft-Hartley Act to enforce cooling off period

With less than two weeks until the 1 October deadline for a strike at US East Coast and Gulf ports by 85,000 members of the International Longshoremen Association (ILA) two top container lines have announced surcharges that are effective from mid-October.

CMA CGM said it would charge an additional $1,500 per teu from all origin ports to US East Coast and Gulf ports effective from 11 October. For exports from US East Coast Gulf ports the surcharge for dry and tank containers would be $800 per twenty-footer, $1,000 per forty-footer, and $1,266 per forty-foot container. For reefer exports a $1,000 per twenty-footer and $1,500 per forty-foot container would be levied.

Meanwhile Hapag-Lloyd added to shipping’s list of acronyms with the announcement of a Work Disruption Surcharge or WDS from 18 October. The $1,000 per teu WDS would be charged on all imports to US East Coast and Gulf ports from all ports in North Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Oceania and Latin America.

Negotiations on a new master labour contract for dockworkers at US East Coast and Gulf ports between the ILA and employers represented by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) broke down in June this year.

On 13 September USMX said there had been no further negotiations on the master contract, while the ILA have made clear their intention to strike coast wide if there is no new agreement by 1 October.

For more, pklease read here: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/containers/container-lines-roll-out-us-east-coast-surcharges-as-port-strike-looms

Story courtesy of Seatrade Maritime.