China’s Oil Supertankers Slammed With $5.2 Million Fee Per U.S. Port Call

Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,

• The U.S. is introducing fees on operators of China-built vessels calling at U.S. ports.

• These fees could reach up to $5.2 million per call for large supertankers.

• The U.S. Trade Representative states the move aims to address Chinese dominance and bolster the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

The U.S. move to penalize China-built and China-owned vessels calling at U.S. ports could lead to an oil supertanker made in China and operated by a Chinese company facing a fee of up to $5.2 million per call at a U.S. port, shipbrokers have estimated.

The U.S. last week announced fees on vessel owners and operators of China based on net tonnage per U.S. voyage. 

The previous proposal was a per-port-entry fee of up to $1.5 million on Chinese-built vessels, and up to a $1 million per-port-entry fee on any vessel (Chinese-built or non-Chinese-built) for operators that have any Chinese-built vessels in their fleet or orderbook.

Now, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) plans to impose fees on operators of Chinese-built ships based on net tonnage or containers, increasing incrementally over the following years.

Commenting on the new USTR move, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, “Ships and shipping are vital to American economic security and the free flow of commerce.”

“The Trump administration’s actions will begin to reverse Chinese dominance, address threats to the U.S. supply chain, and send a demand signal for U.S.-built ships,” Greer added.

Under the new plan, the fee on a China-made China-operated supertanker could reach up to $5.2 million per call because of the large tonnage of the supertankers compared to smaller oil tankers, according to the research arm of Arrow Shipbroking Group cited by Bloomberg.

The previous per-call only fee would have charged up to $3.5 million for a tanker to call at a U.S. port.

Oil traders have already started to avoid hiring tankers built in China amid concerns that port fees could be coming for Chinese vessels at U.S. ports as part of a plan by President Donald Trump to revitalize the American shipbuilding industry. 

Oil traders and charterers that are booking vessels to call, load, or discharge cargoes at U.S. ports are seeking vessels not built in China, market sources told Bloomberg earlier this month.