The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) abruptly announced plans last week that Chinese shipping companies and vessels manufactured in China will face fees up to $1 million per ship or $1,000 per ton of cargo when entering U.S. ports.
Non-Chinese shipping companies using Chinese-built vessels could be charged up to $1.5 million per entry. The upcoming measure will be finalized after a public hearing by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) scheduled for next month.
The measure stems from an investigation conducted during the previous administration, which concluded that Beijing's maritime dominance "displaces foreign firms, deprives market-oriented businesses and their workers of commercial opportunities, and lessens competition and creates dependencies on China, increasing risk and reducing supply chain resilience," according to the USTR.
This move has already begun reshaping industry landscapes. According to shipping trade journal TradeWinds early this month, German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd is in the final stages of negotiations to place an order six LNG dual-fuel container ships worth about $1.2 billion from Hanwha Ocean instead of Chinese shipbuilders.
South Korean shipping companies including HMM, which handles the largest domestic volume of U.S. shipping cargos while maintaining only 2 percent of Chinese-built vessels in its fleet, are expected to benefit if Chinese shipping companies reduce operations on U.S. routes or if shipping rates increase due to decreased supplies.
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