US plans to impose port fees for Chinese ships

The US has unveiled plans to impose port dues on Chinese ships in a bid to revive the country’s shipbuilding industry and challenge Beijing’s dominance of the industry, the BBC reports.

Starting in mid-October, Chinese shipowners and operators will be charged $50 per tonne of cargo, with the fee set to increase annually over the next three years.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the fees would raise prices for US consumers and “will not revive the US shipbuilding industry”.

The fees for Chinese shipowners and operators of Chinese-built ships will depend on the weight of their cargo, the number of containers they carry or the number of vehicles on board.

For bulk carriers, the fee will depend on the weight of their cargo, while for container ships, the fee will depend on the number of containers the ship carries. The $50 per ton of cargo will increase by $30 each year over the next three years. The fee for Chinese-built ships will start at $18 per ton or $120 per container and will also increase over the next three years.

Non-U.S.-made ships carrying automobiles will be charged $150 per car. The fee will be applied once per voyage and no more than five times per year.

Empty ships that call at U.S. ports to carry bulk export goods, such as coal or grain, are exempt.

Ships that carry goods between U.S. ports, as well as from those ports to the Caribbean and U.S. territories, are also exempt from the new fees, as are U.S. and Canadian ships calling at Great Lakes ports.

The fees are much lower than a plan unveiled in February, which called for charging up to $1.5 million for each U.S. port visited by a Chinese ship.

Tags: China, USA