Maersk’s latest Intermodal Fuel Fee notices for Germany, the Benelux and Poland put an expiry date next to the percentage. The current values apply from 14 September through 28 September, after which they are reviewed again. Elsewhere, the rules are different: Maersk’s Greece, Cyprus and North Macedonia surcharges run on a weekly review, its Italy fee is currently reviewed monthly, and Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and ONE each use their own revision and tariff-date structures.
For anyone quoting an all-in rate with a carrier-haulage leg, that fragmentation matters more than any single headline percentage. The inland fuel component that eventually bills can depend on the carrier, country, mode, regulatory scope and the shipment event used as the tariff date.
There is no single inland fuel cycle
The important change since our April 2026 edition is not that every carrier has moved from monthly to shorter reviews. They have not. The current market is more fragmented than that.
| Carrier and scope | Current mechanism |
|---|---|
| Maersk DACH, Benelux, Poland | Bi-weekly review with a stated validity window |
| Maersk Greece, Cyprus, North Macedonia | Weekly review, with no trigger during the exceptional mechanism |
| Maersk Nordic and Baltic store door | Weekly update |
| Maersk Italy | Monthly review in the current September notice |
| Maersk parts of Southeast Europe | Bi-weekly review |
| Hapag-Lloyd Italy | Successive published revisions with later effective dates for FMC-regulated cargo |
| CMA CGM Europe | Rates apply until further notice, with new regional grids published as conditions change |
| ONE US and Canada | Monthly evaluation of the Inland Haulage Fee |
Some of those mechanisms are not new. Maersk’s DACH fee was already being reviewed every two weeks in April, while Greece and North Macedonia had already moved to weekly reviews in March. The Nordic and Baltic emergency surcharge was introduced with a weekly mechanism. Maersk’s Italy notices actually show the opposite movement: April and May notices called for bi-weekly reviews, while the current September notice states a monthly review.
The review mechanism can also change within individual markets over time. Croatia, for example, moved from monthly to bi-weekly review earlier in the year and remains on a bi-weekly schedule in Maersk’s September notice. The useful operating assumption is therefore not that every carrier is accelerating on the same schedule. It is that the schedule itself now has to be checked market by market.
Maersk Europe: the current fortnight
For DACH, the Benelux and Poland, Maersk’s Intermodal Fuel Fee is applied to the IHI and IHE rate and currently carries a defined 14-to-28 September validity window.
| Market | Truck | Barge and BCO | RCO | Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany, Austria, Switzerland | 10% | 10% | 5% | 14 to 28 Sep 2026 |
| Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg | 12% | 12% | 6% | 14 to 28 Sep 2026 |
| Poland | 12% | Not stated | 6% | 14 to 28 Sep 2026 |
The percentage alone does not tell you which shipment receives it. For non-FMC cargo, Maersk ties the DACH price calculation date to the ETD of the first vessel in the latest booking confirmation; for multi-carrier shipments it uses the time the booking was placed. FMC-regulated cargo follows a different date and a later implementation schedule.
Maersk’s weekly markets are different again. The latest effective levels as of 11 September include 20% on truck services in North Macedonia from 7 September and 12.5% in Cyprus from the same date. Greece’s latest published level is 12.5%, effective from 24 August. These notices state that the surcharge is reviewed weekly rather than monthly and that no trigger applies during the exceptional mechanism.
That makes the rate harder to infer from an external fuel index. A trigger formula tells you what benchmark to watch. Under a weekly discretionary reset, the carrier’s next notice is itself the rate signal.
Maersk’s Nordic and Baltic store-door surcharge
Separate from those Intermodal Fuel Fee notices, Maersk’s Emergency Inland Fuel/Energy Surcharge applies to store-door shipments across the Nordic and Baltic markets and is updated weekly.
| Market | Surcharge |
|---|---|
| Estonia | 20% |
| Denmark | 13% |
| Latvia | 12% |
| Sweden | 9% |
| Finland | 5% |
| Lithuania | 4% |
| Norway | 0% |
Two carve-outs matter operationally. The charge applies to store-door shipments, while Maersk states that electric-truck and rail solutions are currently not affected. Where those alternatives are available for the inland leg, mode choice can determine whether the emergency surcharge applies at all.
Maersk Italy is on a different clock
Italy shows why even one carrier cannot be reduced to a single European review rule. Maersk’s current Italy Intermodal Fuel Fee is 16% on truck and 8% on RCO. It applies from 1 September for non-FMC cargo and from 24 September for FMC-regulated cargo.
The September notice states that those values are subject to monthly review. That differs from both Maersk’s current bi-weekly DACH mechanism and the bi-weekly Italy review language used earlier in the year.
Hapag-Lloyd Italy: one rate, two effective dates
Hapag-Lloyd’s Inland Fuel Floater (Diesel) covers Fuel Origin Inland and Fuel Destination Inland charges on export and import haulage. Its Italian revisions provide a clear example of how FMC timing can leave two percentages running on the same country at once.
| Country | Effective, non-FMC | Effective, FMC scope | Truck | Combined rail and truck | Rail only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 27 Jul 2026 | 16 Aug 2026 | 7.5% | 4% | 0% |
| Italy | 24 Aug 2026 | 12 Sep 2026 | 15% | 7.5% | 0% |
| Italy | 21 Sep 2026 | 9 Oct 2026 | 16% | 7.5% | 0% |
| Spain | 1 Sep 2026 | 1 Oct 2026 | 3% | 1% | Not stated |
The overlap is easy to miss. From 24 August through 11 September, Italian non-FMC truck haulage is at 15% while FMC-scope cargo remains at 7.5%. From 12 through 20 September both are at 15%. On 21 September, non-FMC cargo moves to 16% while FMC remains at 15% until 9 October.
Across the 46 days from 24 August through 8 October, those two tariff tracks carry different Italian truck percentages on 37 days.
Country-level assumptions fail too. We covered the Spain and Italy divergence in Hapag-Lloyd’s Inland Fuel Rates Are Splitting by Country, Mode and Tariff Date. The current truck gap is 12 percentage points: 15% in Italy versus 3% in Spain. It becomes 13 points when Italy’s next revision takes effect on 21 September.
CMA CGM changed its European grid again in September
CMA CGM published a new European Inland Emergency Fuel Surcharge grid on 9 September, effective from 8 September. That supersedes the August levels for the markets in the central notice.
| Port country | Road | Combined rail and road | Barge or barge and road |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 17% | 7% | Not applicable |
| Germany | 14% | EUR 40 per container | Not applicable |
| France | 8% | 2% | 6% |
| Slovenia | 7% | Included | Not applicable |
| Croatia | 9% | Included | Not applicable |
| Italy | 8% | 8% | Not applicable |
| Belgium | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Netherlands | 3% | 3% | 3% |
The mode differences remain large. France carries 8% on road against 2% on combined rail and road. Germany continues to use a flat EUR 40 per container rather than a percentage for combined rail and road.
There is another layer underneath the central European grid. CMA CGM’s separate Adriatic Cluster notice, also effective 8 September, lists road surcharges of 9% for Slovenia, 9% for Croatia and 12% for Montenegro for inland destinations served through Koper, Rijeka, Ploce and Bar. That is a reminder to check the routing-specific local notice rather than assuming one country percentage covers every gateway.
North America: ONE’s rates are already changing again
ONE applies both its ocean Emergency Fuel Surcharge and a separate Inland Haulage Fee, IHD inbound and IHL outbound, to shipments involving US or Canadian inland haulage. The inland fee is evaluated monthly.
The current inbound levels took effect on 1 August and remain applicable through 7 October. ONE has already published the next revision, effective 8 October.
| Mode and routing | Delivery term | Dry | Reefer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rail via US and Canada West Coast | CY | $300 | $385 |
| Rail via US and Canada East Coast or US Gulf Coast | CY | $135 | $385 |
| All truck, all routings | CY or Door | $50 | $50 |
| Rail and truck via US and Canada West Coast | Door | $350 | $435 |
| Rail and truck via US and Canada East Coast or US Gulf Coast | Door | $185 | $435 |
| Barge or feeder, all routings | CY or Door | $50 | $100 |
The August move was sharply lower than July. West Coast rail-and-truck door service, for example, fell from $520 to $350 for dry containers and from $680 to $435 for reefers. All-truck service fell from $130 per container in July to $50 in August.
The next revision reverses part of that decline. From 8 October, West Coast rail rises to $350 per dry container and $490 per reefer, all-truck rises to $105 and $135 respectively, and West Coast rail-and-truck door service rises to $455 and $625. A reference table can therefore become stale even while ONE continues to describe the mechanism as a monthly evaluation.
Maersk uses a different structure in North America. Its US inland surcharge is stated at $140 per container for qualifying shipments with a price calculation date on or after 18 April where Maersk completes the truck move. Maersk says a surcharge may be applied when the trailing 13-week EIA average exceeds $2.52 per gallon and reserves the right to activate it above that threshold.
Separately, Maersk’s emergency intermodal fuel levels for shipments moving through inland rail ramps or container yards are $200 per dry container and $250 per reefer on imports into the US and Canada. A July invoicing update changed the charge descriptions but did not change those levels.
Mexico moves on another schedule. Maersk is holding its inland fuel surcharge at 2% of inland haulage through September, unchanged from August and down from 5% in April. The market remains on a monthly review.
Same country, different carrier
Put the current European non-FMC road and truck rates side by side and the carrier spread becomes visible even before the underlying rate bases are considered.
| Country | Maersk | Hapag-Lloyd | CMA CGM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 16% from 1 Sep | 15% now; 16% from 21 Sep | 8% from 8 Sep |
| Poland | 12%, 14 to 28 Sep | Not included here | 17% from 8 Sep |
| Germany | 10%, 14 to 28 Sep | Not included here | 14% from 8 Sep |
| Netherlands and Belgium | 12%, 14 to 28 Sep | Not included here | 3% from 8 Sep |
The percentage spread should not be read as a direct price comparison. CMA CGM applies its IEFS to the applicable inland service, Maersk applies the DACH Intermodal Fuel Fee to the IHI and IHE rate, and Hapag-Lloyd applies its floater to inland haulage. An 8% and a 16% on the same country do not translate into a fixed two-to-one difference in euros without the underlying rates.
What the table establishes is that a single blended European fuel assumption is difficult to defend. For non-FMC cargo, Italy currently carries published road or truck figures of 16% at Maersk, 15% at Hapag-Lloyd and 8% at CMA CGM. In Germany and Poland, CMA CGM is above Maersk; in Belgium and the Netherlands, Maersk is four times the CMA CGM percentage.
The date that decides which level bills
The booking date alone does not tell you which level applies. Carriers attach these charges to different shipment events, and the rule can change by market, direction and regulatory scope.
| Carrier and scope | Application basis |
|---|---|
| Maersk, DACH/Benelux/Poland, non-FMC | ETD of the first vessel in the latest booking confirmation; for multi-carrier shipments, time of booking placement |
| Maersk, DACH/Benelux/Poland, FMC | Date Maersk or an authorised agent takes possession of the last container on the transport document |
| Maersk, Italy, non-FMC non-Spot | Scheduled departure date of the first water leg at booking confirmation |
| Maersk, Italy, FMC non-Spot | Last-container gate-in date |
| Maersk, Greece/Cyprus/North Macedonia imports where inland is hired later | Import shipment creation date |
| Maersk, Croatia | Cargo delivery date |
| Hapag-Lloyd, imports | Container pick-up date from the port |
| Hapag-Lloyd, FMC exports | Full-container gate-in date at the origin port |
| Hapag-Lloyd, non-FMC exports | Vessel departure date |
| CMA CGM, exports | Date of departure from Europe |
| CMA CGM, imports | Date of discharge in Europe |
Maersk’s notices define FMC-regulated trades around shipments entering or exiting US-regulated ports. That can place the same European inland move on a different implementation track depending on the ocean trade attached to it.
The reconciliation problem is therefore concrete. A short-lived percentage can be attached to a shipment event other than the initial booking, while the carrier, mode, gateway and regulatory scope can each change the result. Two containers using the same inland lane can legitimately bill different fuel percentages because their applicable tariff dates fall on opposite sides of a revision.
If your team is checking inland fuel lines against the carrier revision and shipment event that applied to each container, see how ops teams get those event dates in one place instead of across seven carrier portals.
What is driving the revisions
Across these notices, carriers repeatedly point to the same broader pressure: disruption and uncertainty in Middle Eastern energy supply, volatile diesel prices and higher inland operating costs. The wording and calculation mechanisms differ, but the energy shock behind the temporary charges is common.
US fuel benchmarks were still moving sharply when the latest European notices landed. The US Department of Energy weekly retail diesel average rose 36.8 cents to $5.967 per gallon in the reading published on 9 September. Ultra-low-sulphur diesel futures on CME settled at $4.8010 per gallon that day, up 23.32 cents or 5.11%, while Brent crude was above $100 per barrel.
Those are US market indicators, not the formula behind the European percentages above. European carrier notices use their own cost bases and do not state that their rates are calculated from the US DOE benchmark. The figures are useful as evidence of the wider fuel-price volatility occurring while these inland charges are being revised, not as inputs for reproducing a carrier’s surcharge.
What to check
- Any carrier-haulage quote that extends across a stated rate boundary, especially Maersk DACH, Benelux and Poland around 28 September.
- The shipment event used as the tariff or price calculation date. Do not assume the booking date decides the applicable level.
- Whether the move is FMC-regulated. Maersk’s DACH fee moves to the new level on 13 October for FMC cargo, while Hapag-Lloyd’s next Italian 16% truck rate does not reach FMC cargo until 9 October.
- The inland mode. Rail, combined rail and road, barge, electric truck and conventional truck can carry materially different treatment.
- The gateway as well as the country. CMA CGM’s Adriatic Cluster notice shows why a routing through Koper, Rijeka, Ploce or Bar can require a different local check.
- ONE’s applicable IHD/IHL table. Current August levels run through 7 October, with another revision already published for 8 October.
- Any European budget using one blended inland fuel percentage across carriers, countries or modes.
Further Reading
- Maersk, “Intermodal Fuel Fee update in DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)”
- Maersk, “Intermodal Fuel Fee update in BENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)”
- Maersk, “Intermodal Fuel Fee update in Poland”
- Maersk, “Intermodal Fuel Fee update in Italy”
- Maersk, “Emergency Inland Fuel/Energy surcharge”
- Maersk, “Fuel Surcharge update in Macedonia”
- Maersk, “Fuel Surcharge update in Cyprus”
- Maersk, “Fuel Surcharge update in Greece”
- Maersk, “Intermodal Fuel Fee – update for Croatia”
- Maersk, “United States Inland Fuel Surcharge”
- Maersk, “U.S. & Canada Emergency Intermodal Fuel Surcharge”
- Maersk, “Fuel Surcharge update in Mexico”
- Hapag-Lloyd, “Italy: Update on Inland Emergency Fuel & Energy Surcharges”
- Hapag-Lloyd, “Italy: Update on Inland Emergency Fuel & Energy Surcharges”
- Hapag-Lloyd, “Italy: Update on Inland Fuel Surcharge”
- CMA CGM, “Customer Advisory: Inland Emergency Fuel Surcharge — Europe Update September 2026”
- CMA CGM, “Inland Emergency Fuel Surcharge — Adriatic Cluster Ports”
- ONE, “Notice of Inland Emergency Fuel Surcharge — Canada and the United States”
- FreightWaves, “$6 average looms as diesel benchmark hits record”
Carrier rates, effective dates, review mechanisms and tariff-date rules are taken from carrier notices current as of 11 September 2026. Maersk DACH, Benelux, Poland, Italy, Nordic/Baltic, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus, North Macedonia, US/Canada and Mexico information is based on Maersk’s published notices. Hapag-Lloyd Italy figures are from Hapag-Lloyd’s published local notices; Spain figures are from the corresponding carrier reporting cited in our earlier coverage. CMA CGM figures use its September 2026 Europe and Adriatic Cluster advisories. ONE figures use its Inland Haulage Fee schedules effective 1 August and 8 October 2026. The calculation of 37 split days across 46 days is derived from Hapag-Lloyd’s published effective dates and does not appear in a carrier notice. Percentages apply to different underlying rate bases and should not be compared directly as monetary amounts. Levels, scope and dates should be confirmed against the applicable carrier tariff or service contract before quoting or repricing.
Need help interpreting this disruption or your shipment?
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