Judul : Maersk downplays hit from US port fees as doubts swirl over anti-China plan
link : Maersk downplays hit from US port fees as doubts swirl over anti-China plan
Maersk downplays hit from US port fees as doubts swirl over anti-China plan
When the United States unveiled plans to charge hefty fees to any China-built or operated ship entering an American port earlier this year, the shipping industry appeared to face a stark choice: cut Chinese vessels out of their fleets or see their costs soar.
But months ahead of the charges coming into force, the global shipping giant Maersk insists that it will be able to avoid making that decision, casting further doubt over the US' ability to curtail the dominance of China's shipbuilders.
Maersk will not raise prices for its clients due to the US port fees; nor will it exclude Chinese shipyards and shipbuilders from consideration when ordering future vessels, according to Silvia Ding, the company's Greater China president.
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"Maersk has 10 per cent of its fleet that will be subject to the port fee, and we can reassign our vessels to avoid the extra cost," she told the Post on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 2025 China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing.
Ding added that Maersk would consider multiple factors when placing shipbuilding orders, including cost and technical requirements.
The comments are the latest sign that the port fees - which are due to come into force in October - may have a more limited impact than some initially thought, after several moves by US officials to scale back the policy amid industry backlash.
The US aims to use the fees - as well as a bundle of tariffs on Chinese-made equipment - to push firms to build ships in America and stop using Chinese vessels. But it remains unclear how effective the measures will prove in practice, with recent industry data and company announcements sending mixed signals.
The marketing head of another shipping company at the expo, who declined to be named due to company policy, said there were still doubts within the industry about how the port fees would be implemented, given the series of recent policy flip-flops by the US government.
Since the port fees were announced in February, officials have already made several changes to the proposals amid intense pushback from shipping companies and industry bodies.
The marketing head said their company's clients were currently more concerned about the effect of US tariffs, which pose a more immediate threat to their businesses than the port fees.
The trade war has sparked turmoil in the shipping sector in recent months. In April, the US and China placed triple-digit tariffs on each other's goods, sparking a dramatic decline in demand for container shipping. China's exports to the US slumped 21 per cent year on year in April, then by 34.5 per cent in May.
That was followed by a surge in cargo shipments from late May, after Beijing and Washington agreed to roll back tariffs for 90 days. But the end of the "trade truce" is now approaching, with the two sides yet to agree a permanent deal, leading to further uncertainty.
Shipping companies said they had been able to handle the turbulence smoothly so far.
"Although the first half of the year saw dramatic cargo volume fluctuations, our global shipping network has been flexible enough to help clients navigate the market turmoil," Ding said. "We have kept our network unchanged, but simply adjusted ship sizes to align capacity with the changing demand."
MSC, the Geneva-headquartered shipping giant, said it had been able to deal with the market disruptions thanks to a new East/West network launched in February.
Instead of using an alliance-based model, the network is independently operated by MSC, providing a high degree of flexibility and enabling the company to respond rapidly to market changes, the company said.
The market turmoil has also forced companies to work harder to provide end-to-end logistics services, which integrate rail, shipping, warehousing and road transport, Ding said.
Maersk's flagship warehouse in Shanghai's Lingang is set to start operations in the fourth quarter of this year. With a total investment of US$174 million and an area of 14,700 square metres, the logistics centre will handle both imports and exports and function as a regional distribution hub.
"It represents our continuous confidence and commitment to the Chinese market," she added.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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