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The US Trade Representative (USTR) has narrowed the scope of its tariffs against China’s maritime industry to a fee based on the cargo capacity or container volume of Chinese-operated and -built ships entering US ports. The more targeted actions follow industry warnings that earlier proposals would increase costs for US shippers and pose an existential threat to smaller ports, but China-based ocean carriers could still face millions in fees under the tariffs.

In its list of tariff actions that take effect Oct. 14, the USTR said Chinese ocean carriers will be subject to a fee of $50 per net ton of capacity upon arrival at a US port. The fee will go up to $80 after one year, rising each year before topping out at $140 in 2028.

Net tonnage measures a ship’s overall cargo capacity, regardless of vessel type. The fee will only be charged at the first port of call on a vessel string and will not stack on top of other port calls. The fee will only be charged five times per year on each vessel.

Ocean carriers based outside of China operating Chinese-built ships will face a fee based on either net tonnage or container volume, whichever is higher. Ships built in other countries will not face the same fees, nor will fees be assessed based on the percentage of Chinese-built ships in a carrier’s fleet or orders at Chinese shipyards.

The tonnage fee for non-Chinese carriers starts at $18, escalating to $23 by April 2026 and topping out at $33 in 2028. The per-container fee starts at $120 and rises to $153 next year and $250 in 2028.

Non-Chinese ocean carriers will be able to waive the fee if they take delivery of a US-built ship of at least the same size within three years. The fees will not apply to Chinese-built ships in US-flag fleets, container ships that are 4,000 TEUs or smaller, voyages of less than 2,000 nautical miles or Chinese-built ships owned by US-based carriers.

The capacity-based tariffs come after a series of proposals that included fees of up to $1.5 million based on US port calls by Chinese carriers and similar fees on non-Chinese ocean carriers with Chinese-built ships in their fleets and orders at Chinese shipyards. Other proposals included an export cargo preference for US-built ships.

After two days of hearings, the USTR said it wanted to reduce the potential impact on US shippers, particularly exporters and dry-bulk shippers.

Still, the USTR plans tariffs based on the capacity of China-built ships and will still charge fees on that country’s ocean carriers. The goal of the fees is “to further disincentivize use of Chinese shipping services,” the USTR said.

Cosco, OOCL in crosshairs

The USTR’s fees will have the largest impact on ships operated by Cosco Shipping and its subsidiary Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL).

Source: JOC

Ocean carriers plan to blank more sailings through much of April as freight rates hit new lows for 2025 and more ships are expected to hit the water in the coming months. The withdrawal of capacity also comes as ocean carriers look to finalize annual service contracts with shippers.

A total of 68 sailings globally are expected to be canceled during April, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, with about half of the cancellations in trans-Pacific services. The blankings are occurring across a variety of weekly services to major US ports.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. last week said it would blank six voyages between Asia and the US, with most of the cancellations for sailings originally scheduled for the second half of April. MSC said it would cancel late-April voyages scheduled to the US West Coast on both its Orient service from northern China and its Pearl service from Vietnam and southern China.

MSC will also cancel a weekly sailing on its Empire and America services to the US East Coast and another sailing on its Lone Star Express service to the US Gulf Coast.

Schedules from other carriers also show more capacity being withdrawn in the coming weeks. Ocean Network Express’ (ONE’s) export schedule for Shanghai shows the Premier Alliance will have no vessels for mid-April sailings on both its EC1 service to the US East Coast and the EC2 service calling the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico and the US Southeast.

ONE also canceled a mid-April sailing on its MS2 service between Asia and the US West Coast and a sailing originally scheduled this week on its PN3 service to the ports of Vancouver and Tacoma.

Ocean Alliance member Cosco Shipping also appears to be removing trans-Pacific capacity in the short term. It has no weekly voyage scheduled in the second week of April for its Manhattan Bridge service to the US East Coast. The carrier’s Bohai and Hibiscus Express services to the US West Coast also do not have vessels scheduled for the same week.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source: JOC

If a Trump administration proposal to tax Chinese-built and -operated ships calling at US ports is enacted, the nation’s Class I railroads could face the challenge of attempting to move cargo through fewer entry points without disrupting service, railroad executives said Tuesday.

Executives from CSX Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad (UP), speaking at the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference, said while they could accommodate a shift toward larger ports, it would not come without “significant” disruption.

“Certainly, this potential port fee that could come into play would have a significant disruptive impact,” said CSX CFO Sean Pelkey. “If there’s more consolidation at ports that we serve and there’s more volume that wants to come into those ports, that’s a good thing. We can be a part of the solution for that. But it could also result in more congestion as well, which could have significant disruptive effects.”

Congestion on the rail network is a key concern.

During last year’s peak shipping season, service disruptions on the US West Coast coincided with double-digit percentage growth in cargo volume. In October, 795 of UP’s loaded intermodal railcars sat idle for at least 48 hours, according to the US Surface Transportation Board. That same month, UP’s average intermodal train speed fell to 27.9 miles per hour during the week of Oct. 9–16, its slowest week since 2019.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. CEO Soren Toft said at TPM25 last week that it would no longer be economically viable for carriers to call smaller US ports if the Trump plan was implemented, something echoed by UP CEO Jennifer Hamann.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Ashe, A. (2025, March 11). Proposed US tax on Chinese ship calls could pressure intermodal networks. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/proposed-us-tax-on-chinese-ship-calls-could-pressure-intermodal-networks-5960849

CMA CGM and Maersk will become the latest carriers to launch a joint Asia-East Coast South America (ECSA) service with a semi-express loop that is specifically targeting the significant trade growth between Brazil and Vietnam.

The move follows a tie-up between HMM and Ocean Network Express (ONE) that will see the two carriers begin an express service linking Busan and South China with Brazil.

Both the CMA CGM/Maersk and HMM/ONE connections will begin in April, just as container freight rates are anticipated to rise, according to one Brazilian-based freight forwarder.

CMA CGM said its Asia-South America East Coast 3 (SEAS3) service — known as the ASAS2 for Maersk — will provide a “unique service from Vietnam” while also streamlining shipments between Asia and Brazil with the limited number of port calls improving transit times.

This is the first time CMA CGM and Maersk have teamed up on an Asia-ECSA service. Their separate existing services involve multiple ports calls in Asia and South America, including Argentina and Uruguay.

Maersk said there will be a 37-day transit from Shanghai to Santos, 33 days from Shekou (Shenzhen) to Santos, and 29 days from Vung Tau to Santos, Latin America’s largest port.

CMA CGM is providing seven vessels with a nominal capacity of 6,500 TEUs, while Maersk is deploying four ships on the service.

The full rotation is Shanghai-Shekou-Vung Tau-Singapore-Santos-Singapore-Shanghai.

ONE and HMM will start their joint Asia-ECSA service in April from Busan, also with limited port calls to enhance transit times. The rotation is Busan–South China–Singapore–Rio Grande–Santos–Santa Catarina–Singapore–Hong Kong–Busan.

Details please refer to the JOC news.

Source:

Wallis, K. (2025, March 5). CMA CGM, Maersk become latest to launch Joint Express Asia-ECSA SERVICE. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/cma-cgm-maersk-become-latest-to-launch-joint-express-asia-ecsa-service-5956746