BBC Chartering boss Ulrichs believes it is likely that additional charges for port calls with Chinese tonnage will be imposed on MPP shipping.
The planned penalties for Chinese-built ships in US ports could put the project and heavy-lift cargo shipping industry to the test. At the Logistics Connect trade fair in Bremen, leading players in the industry warned of a drastic increase in costs with serious consequences for cargo customers and project investors in the USA.
“We have 600 ship calls per year in the USA alone. If you multiply that by $1.5 million, we’re talking about almost a billion dollars,” explained Ulrich Ulrichs, CEO of leading tramp project carrier BBC Chartering, which charters over 120 ships.
The burdens are likely to be similar for all shipowners and operators in the segment, provided they are active in trades to and from North America. “90% of all multipurpose freighters are built in China,” emphasized Ulrichs.
Based on ongoing discussions with major customers, ports and lobbyists in Washington, the BBC chartering boss assumes that the shipping industry will not be spared an extra fee on Chinese tonnage – whether at the proposed level or lower will have to be seen. “Something will come along and it will cause unrest.”
At best, the project carriers could face a “speed bump” in a fundamentally positive market environment characterized by high demand for heavy goods for energy projects worldwide. At worst, the transportation costs for project trips to the USA could get completely out of hand. “Nobody would be able to pay that,” Ulrichs is convinced.
The BBC boss hopes that the Trump administration will listen to major companies from the oil and gas industry on this issue. This is because various major projects in the LNG sector in the US Gulf, for example, would otherwise probably be halted due to escalating logistics costs.
“Our industry is obviously being punished,” says Lucius Bunk, founder and Managing Director of the Auerbach shipping company. Fortunately, the freight market for carriers in the heavy-lift sector has recently been encouragingly strong again, meaning that potential turbulence due to new US regulations can presumably be weathered. Lars Feller, CEO of the project carrier dship, pointed this out. “The year has started better than expected. We had a much more stable first quarter with many new cargo contracts.” (mph)
