Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are preparing shippers for low-sulphur fuel surcharges of up to US$150 per FEU when regulations are enforced in the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) of Europe and North America, reports London's Loadstar.
So far only Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd have announced an intention to recover the extra cost of the low-sulphur fuel - currently at $900 per tonne, some 50 per cent more than standard bunker.
Maersk Line said it will buy 650,000 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel a year, or seven per cent of its annual bunker needs, at an additional cost of around $250 million.
As yet, Hapag-Lloyd has not indicated the level of its ECA surcharge, telling its customers they will be informed in a "timely manner". The regulations come into force in January.
Shippers will likely point to the already considerable fuel savings that container lines have achieved as a result of slow steaming or reduced slot cots resulting from the economies of scale new mega ships provide.
Feeders face an uneven playing field. Those using hub ports in the English Channel, North Sea and the Baltic must burn costly low sulphur fuel all the time, but those using British west coast and Irish ports are free of such regulations.
