BEIJING/LOS ANGELES: The United States and China will begin charging additional port fees on each other’s ocean shipping firms starting Tuesday.
China confirmed it has started collecting special charges on US-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels while exempting Chinese-built ships from these levies.
State broadcaster CCTV detailed specific exemption provisions including empty ships entering Chinese shipyards for repair.
The China-imposed extra port fees will be collected at the first port of entry on a single voyage or for the first five voyages within a year.
The Trump administration earlier announced plans to levy fees on China-linked ships to loosen China’s grip on the global maritime industry and bolster US shipbuilding.
An investigation during the Biden administration concluded China uses unfair policies to dominate global maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors.
The US is scheduled to begin collecting its fees on October 14 with analysts expecting China-owned container carrier COSCO to be most affected.
COSCO is projected to shoulder nearly half of the segment’s expected $3.2 billion cost from US fees in 2026.
China responded last week by announcing its own port fees on US-linked vessels starting the same day.
Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta noted that 13% of crude tankers and 11% of container ships in the global fleet would be affected.
Athens-based Xclusiv Shipbrokers Inc described this as a tit-for-tat symmetry locking both economies into a spiral of maritime taxation.
The trade dispute intensified as Trump threatened additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and new export controls on critical software.
Administration officials later warned countries supporting the UN’s International Maritime Organization emissions reduction plan could face sanctions.
Xclusiv observed that shipping has moved from being a neutral conduit of global commerce to a direct instrument of statecraft.
Shares in Shanghai-listed COSCO rose more than 2% in early trading on Tuesday.
The company’s board approved a plan to buy back up to 1.5 billion yuan worth of shares within the next three months.
COSCO did not immediately respond to Reuters’ queries about the potential impact of the port fees. – Reuters
