Ex-India spot rates and surcharges ease as peak comes to an end

Container lines, sensing a gradual slowdown in Indian westbound volumes, are revisiting their surcharges and penalties, indicating a hot market may be turning decidedly cooler.

The liners had been increasingly rolling booking cancellation and container no-show fees into their freight bills in recent months to maximise profitability from booming demand.

Now, according to industry sources, Hapag-Lloyd, for one, has revised its cancellation fee drastically for Indian customers to $100 per container, from the $300 in force since late July.

The German carrier reportedly had the highest such charge among the major carriers, sparking concerns for Indian exporters as they scrambled for vessel space.

And the carrier had previously announced a $300 per box “container rollover fee” to be applied when a booking was rolled within 10 days of the original vessel departure. This month’s reduction seems to cover both fees.

One forwarder told The Loadstar: “The market is shifting to the shippers’ side. There is now no room for carriers to recover all kinds of surcharges, as they want.”

The disruption in the Middle East had prompted a wave of hefty emergency surcharges by all carriers, sparking pushback and questions from various maritime regulatory authorities across their markets, including in India. In early March, the Directorate of General of Shipping warned the lines against “indulging in predatory or opportunistic pricing”.

Meanwhile, cargo bookings across westbound trades from India have dropped in recent days, signalling the beginning of a market downturn after a strong peak season. As a result, ocean rates, ex-India to Europe and the US, are trending down, with expectations that the recent elevated levels will halve over the next few weeks.

Indeed, Hapag-Lloyd yesterday advised forwarders it had revised spot rates for bookings on the 8,000 teu Tucapel, one of the vessels deployed on its TPI service between India (leaving JNPA on 24 October) and the US east coast, to $8,000 per 40ft – a reduction of around $1,500.

India’s exports have had an upbeat run over the past few months, showing high double-digit growth, according to government data; by value, surging 23% year on year last month, continuing the demand rally seen in prior months.

The recent peak season has also begun to show up in Container Trade Statistics (CTS) data, which now includes August, with all-in rates on the India/Middle East-North America trade showing sharp year-on-year growth…

… while India-Europe rates have been on a longer rally since March, overcoming a mid-year wobble.

“September’s strong export growth is an encouraging affirmation of India’s competitiveness in a challenging global trading environment,” said SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. “Our exporters continue to respond to uncertainty with agility, strengthening their presence across markets and product categories.”

That momentum was also reflected in container volumes handled at the major Indian ports: JNPA saw record throughput of some 835,000 teu last month, up from 649,000 teu in September 2025.

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