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Revised port fee plan shields some U.S. exporters, vessel owners

Published: 18 Apr. 2025, 12:33

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on April 14. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The Donald Trump administration on Thursday shielded domestic exporters and vessel owners servicing the Great Lakes, the Caribbean and U.S. territories from port fees to be levied on China-built vessels that are intended to revive U.S. shipbuilding and counter Beijing's maritime dominance.

The Federal Register notice posted by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was watered down from a proposal in February to hit China-built ships with fees of up to $1.5 million per port call, which sent a chill through the global shipping industry.

Ocean shipping executives feared virtually every carrier could be hit with stacking fees. They said the extra costs would make U.S. export prices unattractive and foist billions of dollars in additional costs on U.S. consumers.

The revised plan said the fee would be applied once per voyage on affected ships and not more than six times per year.

The agency also decided not to impose fees based on the percentage of Chinese-built ships in a fleet or based on prospective orders of Chinese ships, as it had originally proposed. Empty ships that arrive at U.S. ports to be loaded with bulk exports like coal or grain are also exempt.

The implementation of the fees will begin in six months. Affected bulk vessels will be assessed a fee based on cargo weight, while container ships will pay a fee based on the number of boxes carried. It was not immediately clear if those fees would be less than originally contemplated by the USTR.

The decision comes on the one-year anniversary of the launch of the USTR's investigation into China's maritime activities. In January, the agency concluded that China uses unfair policies and practices to dominate global shipping. The revision followed a tsunami of public and private opposition from the global maritime industry, including domestic port and vessel operators as well as U.S. exporters and importers of everything from coal and corn to bananas and concrete.

Industry executives had warned that the U.S. taxpayers, workers and even the U.S. shipbuilders and owners the government aims to support could be harmed if the plan was adopted without adjustments.

Container ship operators such as MSC and Maersk visit multiple ports during each trip to the United States, and executives warned the fees would quickly pile up. The USTR will host a hearing on May 19 to discuss proposed tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes, chassis that carry containers and chassis parts. China dominates the manufacture of port cranes, and the USTR plans to hit those with a 100 percent tariff.

Reuters