Maersk To Bill Customers $2 Billion-A-Year Hike In Fuel Charges For Shipping

A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S’s customers will have to pay separately for fuel from 2020.

Environmental regulations are expected to limit sulfur emissions, and that is likely to cause an upgrade to low-sulfur fuel in shipping and therefore higher fuel expenses – something that has apparently led to Maersk's decision to break out the fuel cost when charging its customers for delivering goods across thousands of miles of ocean. Maersk says its fuel bill in 2020 will surge by $2 billion per year (almost 60 percent more compared to what it paid in 2017), while it estimates an additional $15 billion fuel bill a year for container shipping lines. The world’s largest container shipping line said that it expects customers to pay the fuel bill from 2020.

 A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S's fuel cost projections and new billing strategy could potentially have implications for global trade, especially since about 90% of the trade moves by sea, involving goods such as oil, gas, coal and iron ore.

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