When The Ships Hit The Fan

Oct 10th, 2025:USTR and Chinese retaliation take center stage On Tuesday, October 14, the port fees targeting the Chinese maritime sector will go into effect. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced these fees in a detailed notice on April 17, 2025, but the plan included a 180-day grace period. The grace period allowed vessel owners and operators to adjust their operations and/or reposition their vessels to minimize the impact of these fees. Our original intent was to dedicate this week’s Tanker Opinion to the implications of the USTR, highlighting some of the remaining uncertainties surrounding the implementation of these fees. However, this morning, the Chinese Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced that China will impose their own fees, targeting vessel with U.S. connections. The Chinese port levies are a direct “tit-for-tat” response to the USTR fees, which, according to China “seriously violate the fundamental principles of international trade and the China–U.S. Maritime Agreement, causing severe disruption to maritime trade between the two countries.” These Chinese port fees, which will also go into effect on October 14 (next Tuesday!) and are equivalent to the USTR charges imposed on Chinese owned/operated vessels, have thrown the tanker market in turmoil. It seems that, not for the first time, the shipping industry is caught up in the geopolitical jostling between the United States and China. Please fill in below form to continue read.