The US Customs and Border Protection agency will be responsible for collecting the new taxes on Chinese ships announced in February and revised by the United States Trade Representative (USTR)the following month.
The latest clarification on port fees came from the specialist publication Lloyd’s List, according to which the USTR is working with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to set up a standalone payment form on pay.gov, the official website for US government payments.
These fees will be managed separately from standard CBP usage fees and tonnage taxes, due to the potentially higher amounts that may be due.
From October 14th, vessels operated by a Chinese shipowner entering US territory will have to pay $50 per net tonne. The amount will increase by $30 each year for the next three years, reaching $140 per tonne by April 2028. A 10,000 TEU boxship, which normally has a net tonnage of 70,000 tonnes, will see tariffs increase from $3.5 million to $9.8 million over three years. However, taxes will be lower for non-Chinese shipowners and operators using ships built in China.
According to the CEO of Vespucci Maritime, these measures will force carriers to revise their schedules with the aim of moving ships built in China away from traffic bound for the United States.
Ocean Alliance is among the alliances that will have the greatest competitive disadvantage, due to COSCO being one of its partners. Meanwhile, exemptions for ships under 4,000 TEU and for sailings of less than 2,000 nautical miles will encourage using alternative ports of call in the Caribbean or Mexico and employing smaller ships on certain routes.
Translation by Giles Foster