Input Stories

Importers and exporters will not have to pay surcharges when new fees go into effect for Chinese ships at American seaports, shipping firms say (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: “The U.S. plans to charge fees on Chinese-built, -owned and -operated ships that call at the U.S. from Oct. 14. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office says the fees are intended to counter what Democratic and Republican administrations believe are unfair trade practices in China’s maritime industry.”

• While the companies won’t pass the coming costs onto importers and exporters in the very near future, experts say they’ll have to do so eventually, as continuing to absorb the extra outlay will become unsustainable.
• Some importers worry services could be disrupted as a result of the new fees.

The details: The fees coming next month are a softened version of ones the administration floated early this year (charges for each U.S. port call). They were revised after appeals by business and trade groups—including the NAM —to the USTR’s office.

• Under the coming structure, any Chinese-owned and/or -operated ship calling at an American port will be assessed a fee starting at $50 per net ton and increasing to $140 per ton by April 2028.

The backdrop: “The port fees are being implemented at a time of rising tensions with the U.S. and China locked in protracted trade talks.”

• In December, U.S. monthly imports are expected to drop to their lowest levels in nearly three years, as manufacturers and retailers order less due to trade uncertainty and rising costs.

How they’re coping: “Some of the world’s largest ocean carriers, such as France’s CMA CGM and Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Co., known as MSC, have spent recent months rotating Chinese-built ships out of U.S. trade routes and adding in ships built in countries such as South Korea.”  

The NAM says: “The NAM encourages the administration to focus on revitalizing American shipbuilding—not burdening manufacturers in the U.S. through new port fees that will reduce the availability of the necessary cargo capacity at U.S. ports, increase pressure on domestic infrastructure and raise costs that may render American exports less competitive around the world,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain told the administration earlier this year.