Maersk Raises India–Europe ECS by $1,000: What Each Origin Pays from August 1

Maersk filed a $1,000 per container increase to its Emergency Contingency Surcharge (ECS) on Indian Subcontinent to North Europe and Mediterranean cargo, effective from the Price Calculation Date of 1 August 2026. The increase is flat across every origin. The levels it produces are not, and the gap between a Bangladesh 40ft dry container and a North West India 40ft dry container to North Europe is now $1,300.

The more useful number is the trajectory. On 20 April, the ECS from North West India and Pakistan to North Europe was $1,000 per dry container. On 1 August it will be $3,500.

The filed table, effective 1 August PCD

Origin	Destination	20DRY	40DRY / HDRY / 45 HDRY	40 HREF
North West India, Pakistan	North Europe (E3W)	$3,500	$3,500	$3,500
Nepal, South & East India	North Europe (E3W)	$3,800	$4,400	$4,400
Sri Lanka, Maldives	North Europe (E3W)	$3,800	$4,400	$4,400
Bangladesh	North Europe (E3W)	$4,000	$4,800	$4,400
North West India, Pakistan	Mediterranean (E4W)	$3,900	$4,100	$4,100
Nepal, South & East India	Mediterranean (E4W)	$3,800	$4,400	$4,400
Sri Lanka, Maldives	Mediterranean (E4W)	$3,800	$4,400	$4,400
Bangladesh	Mediterranean (E4W)	$4,000	$4,800	$4,400

Maersk ECS levels effective 1 August 2026 PCD. All figures USD per container, from Maersk’s 13 and 14 July rate announcements. Rates apply to OOG, SOC and NOR containers; 40ft flat racks, open tops and NOR are charged at the 40DRY level.

Three things in this table are worth more than the headline.

North West India and Pakistan to North Europe is the only listed corridor with a flat rate across the three equipment columns. Its $3,500 level covers 20ft dry, 40ft dry and 40ft high reefer. Elsewhere, the 40ft dry premium over 20ft ranges from $200 to $800, depending on origin and destination. If you are modelling a blended per-box cost across a mixed portfolio, one average will misprice part of it.

Bangladesh reefers break the pattern. Bangladesh pays the highest dry rates in the filing at $4,000 and $4,800, but its 40ft high reefer sits at $4,400, below its own 40ft dry. That is not a transcription error on our side; it is what the filing says, and it is the same on both the North Europe and Mediterranean legs.

North West India and Pakistan to the Mediterranean now costs more than to North Europe across the listed equipment: $3,900 against $3,500 for 20ft dry, and $4,100 against $3,500 for 40ft dry and 40ft high reefer. The two legs have not moved in parallel.

Repeated revisions through 2026

The August filing is one of several revisions to this surcharge during 2026. On the North West India and Pakistan to North Europe corridor, the 20ft dry ECS was $700 through 19 April, increased to $1,000 from 20 April, later fell to $200 before increasing to $700 from 24 June, $1,700 from 1 July and $2,500 before the latest $3,500 level takes effect on 1 August.

The sequence is not a simple uninterrupted climb: the surcharge was revised downward as well as upward. What is clear is that a saved rate sheet can become stale quickly on this trade.

The 20ft dry rate on that corridor has moved from $700 in early April to $3,500 in August. The rate immediately before this filing was $2,500, making the latest step another $1,000 increase per container.

An instrument that reprices this often is not one you can quote from a saved rate sheet. The name says contingency; the filing cadence says standing cost line.

Which rate your box pays is a departure-date question

Maersk bills the ECS against the Price Calculation Date, not the booking date and not the invoice date. For non-spot bookings on non-FMC trades, the PCD is the scheduled departure date of the first water leg recorded at the time of booking confirmation. For FMC-regulated trades it is the last container gate-in date. For spot bookings, Maersk retrieves the rate from the first vessel ETD at booking confirmation.

India and Bangladesh to Europe are not US trades, so the first-water-leg departure recorded at booking confirmation is the relevant definition here. That makes the operative question narrow and answerable: what PCD was recorded for this booking, and is it before or after 1 August?

For example, a North West India or Pakistan to North Europe booking with a qualifying PCD of 30 July carries a $2,500 ECS for the listed equipment. The same corridor with a 2 August PCD carries $3,500.

A later operational delay or vessel roll does not necessarily reset the PCD, because Maersk defines it by the scheduled departure recorded at booking confirmation. The exposure sits with bookings confirmed on either side of the cutoff and with amendments, cancellations or rebookings that may generate a new applicable rate.

Maersk also notes that the surcharge changes remain subject to any required regulatory approvals and notice periods before they apply, so the 1 August date is the filed date rather than a guaranteed one on every scope. Confirm against the applicable tariff for your exact corridor and contract type.

If verifying PCDs and scheduled first-water-leg departures means opening a carrier portal for every booking on the lane, see how ops teams pull confirmed departure dates across 100+ carriers in one view.

Three checks before 1 August

Pull the PCD and first-water-leg departure recorded at booking confirmation for every Indian Subcontinent–Europe booking around the cutoff. Do not assume the vessel’s latest live ETD controls the surcharge. Also identify bookings being amended, cancelled or rebooked, since those may require a fresh rate check.
Re-price by origin, destination and equipment, not by trade lane alone. A quote built on the North West India to North Europe number understates Bangladesh 40ft dry by $1,300. If you quote a portfolio spanning Mundra and Chattogram off one ECS figure, the gap lands on your margin.
Check what your customer contracts say about contingency surcharges specifically. This instrument has been revised repeatedly during 2026. Whether that pass-through is automatic or renegotiated each cycle is worth knowing before the next filing, not after it.

The mechanism generalises past this filing. We covered how each carrier keys its surcharges to a different trigger date across Asia–Europe in June: Hapag-Lloyd bills on sailing commencement, CMA CGM on loading date, Maersk on PCD. Same cargo, same week, three different answers to which rate applies.