By Lisa Baertlein and Jeslyn Lerh
LOS ANGELES/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -New fees imposed on port calls by China and the U.S. are reducing the number of cargo vessels available for moving goods and threatening to increase consumer costs in both countries, industry executives said.
Ship operators have taken China-linked ships out of U.S. trade lanes to avoid new port fees that started on October 14. They are also moving U.S.-linked ships out of China schedules to avert retaliatory fees that went into effect the same day.
Those workarounds are disrupting transits and squeezing ship cargo space, even as operators remain uncertain about how China assigns U.S. ownership or control in its fee assessment.
“The list of available ships to call China’s ports is definitely smaller than before, across all shipping markets,” said Stamatis Tsantanis, CEO of dry bulk shipper Seanergy Maritime Holdings.
“Eventually, all the costs will fall down to the actual consumer, and that’s going to make things way more expensive,” Tsantanis said.
The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) gained 12.9% to reach a four-week high, driven by gains on transpacific routes that saw big rate moves last weekend after China announced its port fees, Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta said in a note on Friday.
Major container shipping lines including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM have already reshuffled ship trade lane assignments to avoid the U.S. port fees.
This week, Gemini Alliance members Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd told customers their Maersk Kinloss and Potomac Express vessels would skip calls to Ningbo, the only China port those U.S.-flagged, South Korea-built vessels visit.
“This new regulation will lead to further dislocation of vessels and trade flows,” said Gernot Ruppelt, CEO of Ardmore Shipping, which transports clean petroleum products, chemicals and vegetable oils.
“Markets have yet to start pricing in this complexity premium,” said Ruppelt. Ardmore has no port calls scheduled in China, he said.
TRADE TURMOIL BOOSTS TANKER MARKET RATES
China’s retaliatory port fees on U.S.-linked ships have driven up rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) voyages to China, the world’s largest crude importer.
That is because the new levies have reduced the supply of tankers that can be chartered to avoid incurring hefty port fees.
Benchmark rates for VLCCs hit two-week highs on Tuesday following the implementation of the port fees, before cooling slightly toward the end of the week.
Consultancy Energy Aspects increased its fourth-quarter 2025 forecast for VLCC rates, adding there is further upside risk if disruptions escalate.
“The exemption of Chinese-built vessels from Chinese port fees has softened the potential impact somewhat, though we still see a significant number of U.S.-owned or operated vessels affected,” Gibson Shipbrokers said.
In the dry bulk segment that transports everything from coal and iron ore to commodities like grains and salt, there are 60 to 70 ships affected by the latest fees, about 3% of the capesize fleet, Seanergy’s Tsantanis said.
“Given the disproportionately large incidence of China discharge in the cape(size) segment, this is likely to have an appreciable impact on our market,” which was already experiencing relatively restricted ship supply, he said.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore, and Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
