MSC adds $500/TEU surcharge to Europe-Asia container shipments

Container line MSC, the world's largest shipping firm, has announced the surcharges it plans to add to European box exports to Asia as its vessels avoid the Suez Canal following the recent attacks in the Red Sea.

The firm plans to charge an extra $500/TEU, $1,000/FEU and $1,500 per reefer container for European exports to the Far East and Middle East, it said in a customer advisory on Wednesday.

For shipments to Jeddah and King Abdullah Port -- requiring a trip through Suez into the north of the Red Sea -- the firm will charge an extra $1,500/TEU, $2,000/FEU and $2,500 per reefer container.

The firm categorises the premium as a 'contingency adjustment charge', and will be applying it from January 1.