It has been a fairly bruising start to March for anyone needing a bit of extra storage space in Ireland. Global volatility and local fee hikes have landed on our quays at the same time, and if you’ve been thinking about securing a 20ft container, there’s no point in sugar-coating it; the bargains in this market are gone.
Here is the long and short of why the market is tightening up and what it means for you if you’re looking to buy this month.
The View from the Water
The crisis began on February 28th, when joint military strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran triggered retaliatory action from the IRGC, including warnings prohibiting vessel passage through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to an effective halt in shipping traffic. (Al Jazeera) Major container shipping companies, including Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, suspended transits through the strait (Al Jazeera), rerouting them the long way around the Cape of Good Hope.
For us here in Ireland, that means 10 to 14 days of additional delay on anything coming from the East, but it’s the surcharges that really sting. Hapag-Lloyd set its War Risk Surcharge at $1,500 per TEU for standard containers (The Times of Israel), with CMA CGM introducing what it called an Emergency Conflict Surcharge of $2,000 per 20ft dry container (The Times of Israel), roughly €1,400 to €1,840 landing on a single box, almost overnight. Protection and indemnity insurance cover was removed effective March 5th, making the economic risk too high for many shipowners to use the strait. (Al Jazeera) In the days before the strikes, war-risk insurance premiums had already risen from 0.125% to between 0.2% and 0.4% of vessel value per transit for very large oil tankers, an increase of a quarter of a million dollars. (Al Jazeera)
The Dublin Port Hidden Tariff
Closer to home, we aren’t exactly helping ourselves. Just as the global situation turned sour, Dublin Port pushed ahead with its new pricing framework on March 1st. Overall costs per container in 2026 rose by €16.83, or 46%, to a new total of €53.33 (Yahoo Finance), built from a 5% increase in the price of a container and a new €15 infrastructure charge (The Loadstar) to fund the Masterplan 2040.
IRHA President Ger Hyland described it as a massive act of self-sabotage on Irish trade interests (The Loadstar) at a time when, by the IRHA’s reckoning, some supermarket staples have increased by 55% in just three years. (The National) Dublin Port handles 80% of all containerised freight coming into the Republic of Ireland (Lloyd’s List), so there’s no real way to dodge it. Every unit coming through the gate now carries that extra weight before it even hits the back of a truck.
Why Everyone is Scrambling for Steel
You’d think higher costs would slow things down, but the opposite is happening. Because shipping schedules are now a mess, Irish businesses are moving away from just-in-time delivery and buying up 20ft units to use as on-site buffer storage, keeping their stock in the yard so they aren’t caught out by a three-week delay at sea.
This surge in demand, combined with fewer new units making it to our shores from China, means the stock currently sitting in Irish depots is becoming more valuable by the day.
The Bottom Line for April
Between the global carriers avoiding the Persian Gulf and the new levies in Dublin, the landed cost of the next batch of containers is going to be a different animal altogether. The units currently on the ground in Ireland were brought in before the worst of these surcharges hit the local resale market. If you have a project or a storage need on the horizon, getting it sorted now makes a lot more sense than chasing a rising price tag in May.
Sources
Wikipedia — 2026 Strait of Hormuz Crisis — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Strait_of_Hormuz_crisis
Hapag-Lloyd (official) — Suspension of Strait of Hormuz Transits — https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/services-information/news/2026/02/suspension-of-strait-of-hormuz-transits-due-to-security-closure.html
Hapag-Lloyd (official) — War Risk Surcharge announcement — https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/services-information/news/2026/03/shipping-from-upper-gulf–arabian-gulf–and-persian-gulf–a-war-.html
Container News — Hapag-Lloyd introduces war risk surcharge — https://container-news.com/hapag-lloyd-introduces-war-risk-surcharge-for-gulf-cargo/
The National — Strait of Hormuz escalation rattles global shipping — https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/2026/03/02/hormuz-iran-us-shipping-war/
Fleet Transport — New charges at Dublin Port — https://fleet.ie/new-charges-at-dublin-port-to-drive-up-costs-of-food-fuel-construction-materials/
HGV Ireland — New charges at Dublin Port to drive up costs — https://www.hgvireland.com/new-charges-at-dublin-port-to-drive-up-costs-says-irha/
Western People — New charges at Dublin Port could affect food and fuel costs — https://www.westernpeople.ie/new-charges-at-dublin-port-could-affect-food-and-fuel-costs-hauliers-say_arid-79520.html
Irish Examiner — Hauliers criticise new Dublin Port charges as ‘hidden tariffs’ — https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/companies/arid-41752170.html
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