# What is the FuelEU Maritime surcharge on my sea freight invoice?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/fueleu-maritime-surcharge-on-freight-invoice

It is the carrier passing on its cost of meeting FuelEU Maritime, an EU rule since 1 January 2025 that caps the greenhouse gas intensity of energy used by large ships calling at EU ports. Carriers recover cleaner fuel costs or penalties through it. It is a freight cost, separate from the EU ETS surcharge.

## What the regulation requires

- Ships over 5,000 gross tonnes carrying cargo or passengers to, from and between EU ports.
- A limit on the well-to-wake greenhouse gas intensity of energy used on board, against a reference of 91.16 g CO2e per MJ.
- The cut starts at 2% in 2025 and tightens in steps to 80% by 2050.
- Voyages between an EU and a non-EU port count at 50% of the energy used, so an India to Rotterdam leg is half covered.
- Ships that miss the limit pay a penalty; companies can bank surpluses or pool ships to meet it.

## How it differs from the EU ETS surcharge

The EU ETS line pays for allowances covering the CO2 a ship emits. The FuelEU line pays for the fuel standard: buying biofuel or LNG blends, or the penalty for not doing so. A ship can owe both. Each carrier names and prices them differently, so read the tariff notice for each.

## Questions to ask your carrier or forwarder

1. Is the charge per container or per tonne, and on which legs?
2. Is it based on the fleet's actual compliance position, a pooled position or a flat estimate?
3. How often is it revised, and is it already inside an all-in rate?
4. Can you get shipment-level emissions data that reflects the cleaner fuel used?

## Accounting and emissions treatment

Book the charge with freight cost, paid by whoever pays freight under the Incoterm. Do not convert it into tonnes of CO2e. Your Scope 3 freight figure changes only if the carrier gives you shipment-level emissions that reflect the lower-intensity fuel, calculated under the GLEC Framework.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads freight records with weight and distance into a supplier evidence trail, and gives spend-only freight lines a labelled spend-based estimate, keeping each invoice as evidence.

- [EU ETS shipping surcharge for exporters](https://senseible.earth/answers/eu-ets-shipping-surcharge-indian-exporters)
- [EU ETS surcharge on a freight invoice](https://senseible.earth/answers/eu-ets-shipping-surcharge-on-freight-invoice)
- [Green shipping book and claim](https://senseible.earth/answers/green-shipping-book-and-claim-scope-3)
- [Freight emissions calculator](https://senseible.earth/calculators/logistics-emissions)

Sources: [Regulation (EU) 2023/1805, FuelEU Maritime (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu), [GLEC Framework, Smart Freight Centre](https://www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/our-programs/emissions-accounting/global-logistics-emissions-council/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-18. Carrier surcharge amounts are commercial and change often, so none are quoted; recheck FuelEU reduction steps if the regulation is amended.