Reefer freight from Egypt is at its cheapest right now, in the last weeks of August, and it will not stay there. From October the citrus, potato and strawberry programmes start booking the same equipment and the same sailings, and container rates on the main lanes climb through the winter. For a part-load buyer the effect is indirect but real: your per-pallet price is a full-container rate divided by the pallet slots in the box, so every increase on the container rate lands on your invoice whether or not anyone mentions freight.
The arithmetic on a half pallet
A 40 ft high cube reefer takes twenty standard pallet positions. If the all-in container rate on your lane rises by 600 US dollars, that is 30 dollars per pallet position and 15 dollars per half pallet. On a half pallet carrying 40 cartons, the freight component of your landed cost moves by roughly 0.38 dollars a carton. That is small enough to ignore on one shipment and large enough to matter across a season of weekly loading. Larger swings of 1,200 to 1,800 dollars on a container, which the Egypt to North Europe lane has seen inside a single quarter, translate to 1.50 to 2.25 dollars a carton.
When Egyptian reefer rates move
| Period | Rate direction | What is driving it |
|---|---|---|
| July to September | Softest of the year | Mango is the only large programme, equipment is repositioning |
| October to November | Rising | Citrus, potato and root crops begin, plugs fill |
| December to March | Peak | Full citrus season plus strawberry, Ramadan buying ahead of the moon |
| April to June | Easing | Citrus tails off before summer fruit ramps |
The surcharges that appear in autumn
Two line items show up most often when the season turns. A general rate increase is a broad uplift announced by a carrier on a lane, usually with a few weeks of notice and usually at the start of a month. A peak season surcharge is a separate, temporary addition applied while demand is high. Bunker adjustment moves independently with fuel. None of these are negotiable at the point of booking. What is negotiable is whether your supplier is quoting you a rate they hold or a rate they will pass through, and that is a question worth asking in writing.
Three ways a mid-size buyer holds a number
The first is to buy FOB and hold your own freight contract, which suits a buyer with steady volume and a forwarder relationship. The second is to buy CFR or DAP with a stated price validity, so the number on the offer is the number on the invoice for that shipment. The third, and the one most mid-size buyers underuse, is simply to book earlier. Rates quoted three to four weeks ahead of a sailing are more stable than rates quoted inside a week, and early booking also secures the plug rather than the rate alone.
What to do this month
If your autumn programme is already defined, put the October and November part-loads on paper now while equipment is loose. If it is not defined, at least ask your supplier what the current CFR number is on your lane so you have a baseline to measure the autumn quote against. Our guide to landed cost on an Egyptian part-load shows how the freight line sits against the other components, and the part-load booking calendar sets out what is loadable in each month.
Peivana is an Egyptian exporter, not a freight forwarder or a rate index. The directions above describe the pattern we see on our own lanes and any single week can move against them.
Get a CFR number with a validity date
Send the product, the quantity in pallets or cartons, your discharge port and the month you want to arrive. We will quote CFR with the validity stated on the offer so you can plan against a firm number. WhatsApp +20 10 9911 1918.