Maersk Adds Port Disruption Surcharge as Strike Looms

(Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg News)

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AP Moller-Maersk A/S shares jumped as much as 4.9%, extending recent gains on expectations that labor talks with U.S. port workers will fail and spark a new round of supply line disruptions that would boost freight rates.

The transport giant on Sept. 24 decided to add a local port disruption surcharge for all cargo moving to and from the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast terminals, to cover higher costs from “potential labor disruptions.” The U.S. dockworker labor union and the shipping industry group face Sept. 30 deadline to reach a new wage deal after talks have stalemated for months.

Maersk ranks No. 5 on the Transport Topics list of the largest global freight companies. 

For Maersk and other container lines, a strike would add to a string of global trade disruptions in recent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which have boosted the freight rates they can charge their customers. Maersk has said that even a one-week U.S. strike could have a large ripple-effect impact on supply chains, causing four to six weeks of disruptions.

Some 45,000 dockworkers at every major East Coast and Gulf Coast port are threatening to strike. The trade gateways involved handle more than half of all goods shipped in containers to and from the U.S.

“The consequences will be severe,” Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Xeneta, said in a Sept. 24 note on the possibility of a strike. There are already ships carrying “billions of dollars of cargo” on the sea heading for the U.S. and “these ships can’t turn back and they can’t realistically re-route to the U.S. West Coast,” he said.

Maersk shares traded 3.6% higher as of 10:52 a.m. in Copenhagen and are now up almost 20% in the two weeks through Sept. 24.

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