Maersk's July 23 Update: A $1,000 Hormuz Charge and a Suspended Ukraine Service

Two Maersk advisories published this week introduced a new Hormuz transit charge and suspended service via Chornomorsk Fishing Port, with one vessel already diverted. Both items can change what shippers pay and where cargo lands, and neither waits for a booking cycle to turn over.

The $1,000 Hormuz Charge Applies to Vessel Transits Through the Strait

Maersk added a fee of $1,000 per container for cargo on any vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It sits on top of emergency freight rates already applied to many regional cargoes.

The line is not currently operating services via the Strait. For current Maersk routings that avoid Hormuz, the fee is therefore not a live transit cost. If Maersk resumes vessel transits through the Strait, affected cargo could fall within the new $1,000-per-container charge, subject to the applicable tariff and booking terms.

Vessel transits through Hormuz have dropped sharply amid Iranian attacks on ships and the US blockade of Iranian ports. Maersk’s workaround has been a landbridge between Red Sea ports and Gulf coast ports, connecting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq via Suez and Bab el-Mandeb. Landside bookings are suspended on many of those routes.

The Ukraine Suspension Has Different Options Depending on Cargo Status

In a separate advisory, Maersk confirmed it has suspended its feeder service to Ukraine via Chornomorsk Fishing Port. The feeder operator can no longer serve the port, and the suspension runs until further notice.

What matters operationally is that the redirect and cancellation options are not uniform. They depend in part on where each shipment sits right now.

Cargo status	What Maersk is doing
On MEDKON MIRA V.629S (import, due to discharge at CHFP)	Diverted to Constanța, Romania
Imports at or arriving at Port Said, Egypt, bound for Chornomorsk	Redirected to Constanța under Clause 20 of the B/L terms
Imports where Romania discharge is unwanted	Shipper must submit a Change of Destination request
Export bookings already placed via Chornomorsk	Free booking cancellation, with no cancellation or amendment fee
Export bookings with containers already gated in	Port of loading can be changed to Constanța while keeping the current ocean freight rate

Source: Maersk customer advisory, 22 July 2026. Confirm terms against your own booking and contract.

Maersk asked customers to route cancellation and amendment requests through its customer service team. Processing changes directly through Maersk.com may trigger amendment charges or freight recalculation.

Why Cargo Position Decides Your Exposure

Read the two advisories together and a pattern appears that neither shows alone. The Hormuz charge prices a potential vessel transit through the Strait. The Chornomorsk suspension re-routes cargo that is already loaded, already at sea, or already inside a terminal gate.

An operator who knows only that Maersk issued an advisory cannot act on either. An operator who knows which of their containers are sitting at Port Said this week, and which export units have already gated in, can tell within minutes which redirect or cancellation options apply to them and whether a Change of Destination request needs to go out today. Constanța is the fallback for affected cargo under Maersk’s current advisory.

The gap between those two operators is not information about the advisory. It is container-level position data at the moment the advisory lands.

If your team is reconstructing which containers sit where every time a carrier issues a redirect notice, walk through how ops teams keep container position current across carriers.

What to Re-check This Week

Any import booking routed to Chornomorsk Fishing Port, particularly units at or approaching Port Said
Export bookings already placed via CHFP, where free cancellation is currently available
Export units already gated in, where the port of loading can move to Constanța while keeping the current ocean freight rate
Gulf and Middle East quotes carrying assumed Hormuz routing, against the new $1,000 charge
Whether your booking uses the deep-water Port of Chornomorsk rather than Chornomorsk Fishing Port; Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry says the main port remains operational and is a separate entity from the fishing port affected by Maersk’s suspension