Latest News

Shippers around the world are waiting to hear if the US will be imposing port fees on vessels linked to China

The U.S. Trade Representative will announce on Thursday its plan to levy port fees on China linked ships, as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to revitalize domestic shipbuilding and combat China's dominance in the high seas. The USTR has a statutory deadline of April 17 to complete its remedies. After concluding that China is using unfair policies and practices in order to dominate global shipping, the agency concluded its investigation one year ago. U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer said last week that the agency will not implement all aspects of its initial fee proposal. The original proposal outlined a variety of options for penalizing China, including million dollar port fees for vessels with ties to China.

USTR did not comment immediately on its plans. This apparent revision was a result of a wave of public and privately expressed opposition by the global maritime sector, including domestic ports and vessel operators and U.S. importers and exporters of all kinds of commodities from bananas to coal.

Greer stated that the fees could not be cumulative, and were designed to prevent economic harm. Separately, it was reported that the administration had been considering different options to soften its proposed port fee after receiving feedback in private meetings with industry representatives or through hundreds of online comments.

Three sources who are tracking the issue and declined to identify themselves said that implementation could come as late November.

The industry executives warned that the U.S. taxpayers and workers, as well as the U.S. shipbuilders, owners and operators the government wants to support, could be hurt if the plan is adopted without any adjustments. This is because the vast majority of the global shipping fleet will be subject to these huge fees.

Ports of all sizes, including small-to-medium-sized ports, have expressed concern that ships would stop calling at their port if the USTR assessed a fee for each U.S. visit. Port executives warn that concentrating calls on larger ports will overwhelm these facilities and starve secondary ports, which have invested billions in infrastructure improvements.

In a press release, Scott Chadwick said that the rule, as it is currently written, could have a significant impact on supply chains, which may cause unintended effects that hurt U.S. port and those who depend on global supply chains.

The Southern California port houses General Dynamics' National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., which builds and repairs vessels. It also hosts cargo carrier Pasha with its U.S. built and flagged Jones Act vessel named Jean Anne, which makes two-weekly trips to Hawaii.

Chadwick didn't elaborate on the impact of fees, but fewer ports calls in San Diego could translate into less ship repair activities for NASSCO as well as financial stress for terminal operators who serve Pasha and others customers.

General Dynamics, as well as other U.S. military shipbuilders including Huntington Ingalls Industries, have standalone or in-port facilities. They didn't immediately respond.

The Shipbuilders Council of America (which represents the industry) said that it supported Trump's efforts to restore and strengthen shipbuilding and ship repairs in the United States.

In a letter addressed to USTR, Cary Davis, CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities, said that the proposed fees would undermine federal investments made in ports over many years, including dredging, new cargo handling equipment and expanded cargo terminals. He stated that some of these investments were made in Trump's first year.

Davis wrote: "This proposal could turn many of these valuable investment that have created thousands of jobs, into assets that are stranded." AAPA declined to comment further.

The Northwest Seaport Alliance, the Ports of Los Angeles Long Beach and Seattle and representatives from USTR met with officials in advance of the public hearings on cargo diversion that took place late March.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the longshore workers of Union Pacific and Berkshire Hathaway's BNSF on the West Coast, joined them.

Matt Leech is the CEO of Ports America in New Jersey, one of the biggest U.S. ports operators.

You can't increase capacity by building new railroad lines or relocating an entire trucking fleet overnight. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein, Andrea Shalal and Jonathan Saul from Los Angeles; editing by Matthew Lewis

(source: Reuters)