The latest rates took effect on 9 September and apply to Maersk Store Door shipments across Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Norway remains at zero. The highest charge is now in Estonia, where the emergency surcharge has risen to 20%, followed by Denmark at 13% and Latvia at 12%.
Maersk says the temporary Emergency Inland Fuel/Energy Surcharge reflects higher fuel costs caused by disruption to supplies from the Middle East. The company has been applying and adjusting the surcharge since June, but the latest weekly update marks another sharp increase in several markets.
| Country | From 9 September | Previous rate |
| Estonia | 20% | 17% |
| Denmark | 13% | 10% |
| Latvia | 12% | 11% |
| Sweden | 9% | 6% |
| Finland | 5% | 5% |
| Lithuania | 4% | 3% |
| Norway | 0% | 0% |
Maersk says the percentages will continue to be reviewed weekly while fuel markets remain volatile.
Electric trucks and rail escape the surcharge
One particularly notable feature of the measure is that electric-truck and rail solutions are currently exempt. That means customers using conventional diesel-powered inland transport can face double-digit additional charges while certain lower-emission alternatives avoid the emergency fuel surcharge altogether.
For road freight customers, the difference is already substantial. In Estonia, the latest rate is four times the 5% surcharge Maersk was charging at the beginning of July. Denmark’s surcharge has similarly climbed from 1% on 1 July to 13% today, while Latvia has moved from zero at the beginning of July to 12%.
Diesel costs under pressure across Europe
The surcharge increases come amid exceptional pressure in European diesel markets. Wholesale diesel prices have risen sharply as disruption to Middle Eastern supplies combines with other constraints on global refining capacity and fuel availability.
The diesel premium over crude oil in Europe recently climbed to record levels, increasing the pressure on transport businesses whose operating costs are heavily exposed to fuel prices. Maersk is not alone in passing some of that pressure on to inland customers.
CMA CGM has also updated its Inland Emergency Fuel Surcharge, with a 3% charge applying from 8 September to road transport and several combined inland services in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The size of the increases varies significantly by carrier and market, but the developments show that the impact of the fuel shock is increasingly moving beyond wholesale energy markets and into the prices charged for actual inland freight movements.
