On Tuesday June 27, 2017, Maersk Line was hit with a cyberattack affecting its operations throughout the world and closing terminals in the ports of New York and New Jersey, Miami, Los Angeles, and Rotterdam. The breach targeted Maersk’s information technology (IT) systems, forcing the carrier to shut down IT and communications infrastructure across multiple sites and business units.

As of today, June 28, 2017, Maersk Line is still unable to receive or process future bookings, and status updates for recent bookings placed with the carrier are uncertain and pending update of contingency plans by Maersk.

After speaking with our partners abroad, Deringer has learned that many shipments already released had returned full to origin terminals and normal operations are proceeding for shipments already in-gate or onboard. However, due to Maersk’s booking system being down for a prolonged period of time, our partners anticipate a very strong peak-like situation with very tight space conditions for the coming days and perhaps weeks, very similar to the situation faced immediately following Hanjin’s collapse last year.

At this time we are not certain whether this will affect freight rates in the short-term, but international partners have suggested a short term rate increase, including carrier requests for individual premiums for space, is a very distinct possibility in light of the capacity shortage created by Maersk’s inability to receive or process future bookings—Maersk holds a market share of just under 10% in the transpacific trade, and 19% globally.

Please be assured that Deringer will work to ensure clear communication status on any shipments now moving with Maersk, as well as proactively planning to place upcoming bookings as early as possible in order to mitigate any after-effect on space in the market as a result of this situation at Maersk Line. If you have any questions or concerns about your shipment, please do not hesitate to contact Deringer’s Marketing Department.