On February 21, 2025, the Office of the US Trade Representative (UST”) released a notice of a proposal to impose wide-ranging fees on shipping companies and vessels with a Chinese nexus. The
On February 21, 2025, the Office of the US Trade Representative (UST”) released a notice of a proposal to impose wide-ranging fees on shipping companies and vessels with a Chinese nexus. The USTR has yet to release regulatory or administrative language that implements the proposals, and there is no guarantee this will actually happen. Interested parties should consider submitting comments as well as reviewing their charterparty and other relevant agreements
SUMMARY OF USTR PROPOSALS
The USTR notice does not set forth a single unified scheme of fees; rather, the notice includes several alternative fee structures, one or more of which may be implemented. The proposals are as follows:
- fees on Chinese operators – A fee on Chinese vessel operators at a rate of up to (a) US$1m; or (b) US$1,000 per net ton of the vessel’s capacity, in each case, assessed on the vessel’s entrance into a US port;
- fees on Chinese-built vessels and fleets – A fee on Chinese-built vessels at the following rates:
- a fee of up to US$1.5m per Chinese-built vessel entering a US port;
- a fee imposed on the vessel’s entry into a US port, determined based on the percentage of Chinese-built vessels in the relevant operator’s fleet, as
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