The $3,000 That Sits Outside Your Gulf Freight Rate
The $3,000 That Sits Outside Your Gulf Freight Rate
Executive Summary
Maersk Update 46 emergency freight: $3,000 per 40ft dry box, $3,800 per reefer or dangerous-goods box.
Overview
Here's the thing. Maersk's Middle East Operational Update 46, dated September 11, 2026, sets emergency freight at $1,800 per 20ft dry container, $3,000 per 40ft dry container, and $3,800 per reefer, special or dangerous-goods box. It applies to cargo loading from or bound for Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (Dammam and Jubail), Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Oman, except Salalah. Read the box type twice. It matters.
There is a second layer. Any vessel that transits the Strait of Hormuz carries another $1,000 per container. Discharge at Fujairah or Khor Fakkan, outside the strait, and you skip it. Insist on Dammam or Jubail and you pay both. That is your call — and your customer's.
Key Details
Put simply, the ships stopped going in. Maersk has suspended bookings to Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the Saudi Gulf ports, Jordan and most UAE ports, discharging instead at Fujairah and Khor Fakkan and moving boxes overland to Jebel Ali. Hapag-Lloyd halted Hormuz transits and pulled its last four vessels out by July 1, 2026. ONE stopped Persian Gulf bookings on March 2, 2026; Evergreen followed on March 5, 2026; HMM issued a service deviation on March 13, 2026; Yang Ming has landed Middle East cargo beyond Sohar at Khor Fakkan since April 20, 2026.
Bottom line: the routing is unstable. Hapag-Lloyd told customers last week it will not accept new Upper Gulf bookings transhipped via Salalah, two months after reopening them. Don't bet on it staying open.
Looking Ahead
The Loadstar reported in October 2026 that spot rates from Nhava Sheva to Khor Fakkan run between $6,000 and $7,000 per 40ft, with Dammam as high as $9,500 per 40ft and Umm Qasr around $10,000 per 40ft high-cube. MSC has added a regional cost recovery surcharge of $1,000 per TEU and $2,000 per 40ft on Europe to UAE and Upper Gulf bookings.
Capacity is moving too. Maersk launched a Nhava Sheva to Khor Fakkan shuttle with the 2,600 TEU Maersk Namibia on September 24, 2026, running fortnightly. AIS counts put roughly 170 vessels holding away from berth in the region. The catch is simple: boxes are not scarce, safe transit is.
Implications
Quote the emergency freight on its own line. Watch out for the box-type trap: a 40ft dry box at $3,000 becomes $3,800 the moment it is a reefer or a dangerous-goods box, and $800 a box is not a rounding error when you are moving twenty of them. Ask yourself one question first: where will this box be discharged? Then price the overland leg separately and let your customer decide.
Two things to check every week. Whether Maersk revises Update 46 downward, and whether Hapag-Lloyd reopens Salalah transhipment for the Upper Gulf. Both move your number, and neither waits for your monthly review.
Market Outlook
Shippers routing to the Upper Gulf should budget for emergency freight as a standing cost through the fourth quarter, not as an exception.JETWAY Supply Chain is your execution partner on the ground in China — based in Tianjin, licensed as an NVOCC (MOT) and a member of CIFA, FIATA and WCA. We handle special cargo and compliance (dangerous goods, chemicals, batteries) across ocean, air, rail and road, and we pre-check your documents before the box is stuffed so your filing clears the first time. Send us your next booking and we will run the checks above against your sailing date. Request a quote.