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#17 - Container cost increase, tariff workaround, EUDR news
Jun 28, 2025
Edoardo Arbizzi
🌎 Global Outlook
📦 From June 1st, container shipping costs from the Far East to the Mediterranean will increase
Rates over $3,000: price hikes by MSC, Hapag Lloyd, and CMA CGM
Starting June 1st, containerized maritime transport between the Far East and the Mediterranean will see a significant price increase. MSC has announced new rates of $3,500 per 20-foot container, applicable to all direct routes to ports in the Western Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean, Adriatic, Europe, and North Africa. The price already includes fuel surcharge and extra fees for Emission Control Areas. For reverse shipments (from the Mediterranean to the Far East), a 20-foot container from La Spezia to Shanghai will cost $500, excluding surcharges.
Hapag Lloyd will also introduce new spot rates from June 1st: $3,100 for a 20-foot container and $4,300 for a 40-foot container, directed to ports in the Western Mediterranean, with Marine Fuel Recovery included.
These increases come amid an already tense context: according to Xeneta, the average spot cost between the Far East and the Mediterranean reached $3,152 (with peaks over $3,400), while the Drewry Index reports stability at $2,742.
CMA CGM, meanwhile, will apply surcharges towards Northern Europe and North America: starting mid-June, shipments from Mediterranean ports (including Italy) to the US East Coast will have an additional $500 per container. For the Far East, new spot rates will start from $530 (20-foot) and $980 (40-foot) for routes from the Western Mediterranean.
Leading shipping companies are raising prices. For European importers, June will bring a new wave of costs to manage.
Legal Workaround for Tariffs — Completely Legal
Companies are finding a way to mitigate the most significant impact of tariffs by leveraging a decades-old legal provision known as the first sale rule.
Under U.S. customs law, the first sale rule allows U.S. importers to use the price of the first sale in a chain of transactions to calculate customs duties.
According to the first sale rule, the U.S. retailer can pay import duties based on the initial price of the goods rather than the marked-up price, thus eliminating the cost associated with the intermediary’s profit.
“The rules allow using that initial sale price from the factory to the seller to determine the final price on which the duty is calculated,” explained Brian Gleicher, senior attorney and partner at Miller & Chevalier Chartered, in a phone interview with CNBC.
Here are the criteria companies must meet to apply the first sale rule:
There must be at least two sales: one by a foreign manufacturer and one or more by an intermediary.
Sales must be made at arm’s length, by independent and completely unrelated parties.
There must be proof that the item was destined for the U.S., not just that it ended up there by chance.
Documentation on the price of the first sale must be available.
Typically, U.S. customs duties are based on the import price of the goods, and the burden of proof lies with the importer, who must demonstrate the initial cost of the product. This is not always information the seller is willing to disclose.
While the first sale rule applies to various products and sectors, it is considered particularly useful for high-value consumer goods and luxury products, where margins are higher.
🔗 Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/26/businesses-are-finding-a-tariff-workaround-the-first-sale-rule.html
🖼️ Meme of the Day
⚖️ Compliance Focus
EUDR: What Changes with the EU’s New Blacklist
Where we left off…
The EUDR (EU Deforestation Regulation) is a European law aimed at combating deforestation linked to the import of agricultural and forestry products into the European Union. The regulation requires European companies to carry out strict due diligence checks on imports of raw materials such as cocoa, soy, coffee, palm oil, timber, and beef, to ensure they do not originate from areas of illegal deforestation or human rights violations.
One of the most significant updates concerns the creation of a “blacklist” of countries considered high risk. Being on this list means imports from those countries will be subject to stricter controls, with more rigorous due diligence obligations for European companies, which must thoroughly verify the origin and sustainability of the products.
What changes?
On April 30th, the EU officially approved the first blacklist, effective early June, including only four countries: Belarus, North Korea, Myanmar, and Russia. Large exporting countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia, despite being among the biggest contributors to global deforestation, were excluded from the blacklist (sparking strong criticism from environmental NGOs accusing the EU of adopting political criteria).
For countries not on the blacklist, compliance obligations for European companies remain less strict, with more limited checks. This means less pressure to improve environmental and social sustainability practices in those countries.
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