Global shipping companies are rapidly repositioning fleets and restructuring services in response to new US port fees targeting Chinese-linked vessels, set to take effect on October 14, 2025. The fees, announced by the US Trade Representative (USTR), aim to counter China’s growing influence in global shipping but are already reshaping trade patterns across container, tanker, and dry bulk sectors.
The fees, applied per voyage rotation and capped at five visits per vessel annually, are structured on a tiered basis. Chinese-owned or operated vessels face an initial charge of $50 per net ton, escalating to $140 by April 2028. Non-Chinese operators using Chinese-built ships will pay $18 per net ton or $120 per container, increasing to $33 per net ton or $250 per container. For a typical COSCO container ship of 65,000 net tons and 13,000 TEU capacity, this means a bill of about $3.25 million per rotation in 2025, climbing to $9.1 million by 2028.
Container Lines Move to Limit Exposure
The most visible shift comes from the Premier Alliance partners — HMM, ONE, and Yang Ming — which are restructuring their Mediterranean Pacific South 2 (MS2) service. The service will now split into two separate routes:
- Mediterranean 2 (MD2) Service, covering ports in Asia and the Mediterranean, including Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Tangier, Valencia, and Genoa.
- Gulf Pacific South 2 (GS2) Service, combining transpacific operations with Asia–Middle East–US West Coast trades.
This move allows ONE to withdraw 10 Chinese-built ships from US-bound services, directly reducing fee exposure.
Other carriers are following suit. OOCL and COSCO are planning transpacific services that bypass the US altogether, opting for direct calls in Mexico. Maersk has already pledged to avoid Chinese-built vessels on its US routes, with analysts expecting competitors to adopt the same strategy.
Despite these adjustments, the Ocean Alliance will continue to dominate global trades in 2025, deploying nearly 390 container vessels with a combined 5 million TEU capacity. Yet its heavy reliance on COSCO-owned ships leaves it exposed to the highest tier of fees.
Tanker and Bulk Trades Reposition Fleets
The new fee system is not confined to container shipping. Tanker and dry bulk operators are also adapting. Charterers are increasingly steering clear of Chinese-built tonnage on transatlantic and US trades, redirecting these vessels to Asia, Africa, and South America.
Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) shipments originally scheduled for China are being redirected to Southeast Asia, fragmenting established trade flows. US crude exports to China have halted completely, with the last shipment unloaded in April 2025. This diversion is already tightening tonnage availability on certain routes and reshaping freight rate structures across the sector.
Strategic Ripple Effects
The tiered fee structure is also boosting the appeal of Caribbean and Central American hubs such as Freeport, Kingston, and Panama. Because the USTR exempts vessels traveling fewer than 2,000 nautical miles from foreign ports, major carriers are weighing transshipment strategies to offset the financial impact.
The timing coincides with broader alliance reshuffling. MSC is operating independently, the Gemini Cooperation between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd is set to launch, and the Premier Alliance is repositioning its services. Collectively, these changes mark the most significant reorganization of liner shipping in nearly a decade.
Analysts project that alliances and MSC will jointly control 82.1% of global container capacity by late 2025, leaving just 17.9% to independent carriers. The additional cost pressures from US port fees are expected to accelerate this market concentration, making survival more difficult for smaller players with limited flexibility in vessel deployment.
Enforcement and Compliance Questions Remain
While the October 2025 start date is fixed, questions remain over enforcement. US Customs and Border Protection is developing a Pay.gov platform to collect fees, with non-paying vessels facing cargo operation bans or even departure detentions. However, industry executives highlight uncertainties over ownership definitions and possible exemptions.
Fleet repositioning is already well underway, with carriers racing to redeploy ships before the 180-day grace period closes on October 14. For larger vessels, repositioning can take six to eight weeks, leaving little margin for error as companies adapt to one of the most sweeping policy-driven restructurings in maritime trade.
