Major Taiwanese news network Liberty Times Network (LTN) reported that sales of Chinese-built bulk ships have plummeted following news that the Trump administration is considering charging a port fee for ships made in China. LTN wrote that the market is taking a “wait-and-see” attitude.
Currently more than one-third of commercial ship capacity (as measured in tonnage) is produced in China. With the U.S. plan of high port charges for ships related to China, shipping companies have almost completely stopped buying bulk ships from China. Only four Chinese-made bulk ships were sold in the second-hand market in March, the lowest numbers since 2022 and about 20 percent of the monthly level seen in 2024. There has not been a significant change in sales numbers for bulk ships produced by Japan or South Korea.
Bilal Muftuoglu, director of dry bulk cargo research at Howe Robinson Partners, remarked that there had only been one order for a new Chinese-made dry cargo bulk ship in February, and that there had been zero confirmed orders in March, which is highly unusual.
According to data provider AXSMarine, 1,002 container ships docked at U.S. ports in February this year, 190 of which were built by China, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the ships. Based on the fee structure currently proposed by the U.S. Trade Representative Office, Clarkson Research Services Ltd., the world’s largest marine brokerage company, estimated that the final port fees charged on each Chinese-made ship may be as high as US$3.5 million. With the provisional rules that are currently under consideration, 83 percent of the container ships, 66 percent of the cargo ships and nearly 33 percent of the crude oil ships docked in U.S. ports in 2024 would have been subject to penalty fees.
Source: LTN, April 4, 2025
https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/5001354