News / Warning to ocean carriers: don't use canal crisis to 'price-gouge customers'

Photo: Suez Canal Authority

Ocean carriers have been warned not to take advantage of the capacity crunch resulting from the Suez blockage to “price-gouge” their customers.

Following reports that shipping lines are predicting increases in spot rates and new surcharges due to the disruption, James Hookham, secretary general of the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF), warned shippers “to be wary of this signalling of future prices and of demands for new surcharges”.

He said: “This incident was not our [shippers’] fault and reasons why customers should be ...