The levies imposed by the US Trade Representative (USTR) could cost the container industry around USD 3.2 billion in the coming year if the current fleet deployment structure in US traffic remains unchanged.
The Chinese state-owned shipping company Cosco and its subsidiary OOCL would be particularly affected. According to Alphaliner, their fleet would be affected to the tune of USD 1.53 billion. ZIM ($510 million), ONE ($363 million) and CMA CGM ($335 million) would also have to shoulder considerable additional costs. This is the result of new calculations by Alphaliner.
The new US rules stipulate that ships owned or operated by Chinese companies will be charged a flat rate of $80 per net tonnage per voyage. For non-Chinese operators of Chinese-built vessels, the higher rate of $23 per net tonnage or $154 per teu capacity applies. Both variants apply a maximum of five times per year and ship.
Based on current capacities, this results in very different charges. While Cosco services are calculated at USD 2,121 per deployed TEU, Maersk would only be charged USD 26. China announced countermeasures. Premier Li Qiang signed a decree at the weekend stating that discriminatory measures by other countries would be met with restrictions of their own.
Cosco already confirmed in September of this year that the levies could pose “operational challenges”, but wants to keep capacities and service quality stable. In August, OOCL spoke of a “relatively large burden” due to the US plans.
The French carrier (CMA CGM) as well as MSC and Yang Ming also operate a significant proportion of non-Chinese-owned but Chinese-built vessels. These would trigger additional fees of $50 million, $73 million and $48 million respectively in 2026.
