V.I. Consumers Will Likely Bear Brunt of Port Fees on Chinese-Built Vessels

The public has one more week to comment on a Trump administration proposal to impose service fees on all vessels made in China that call on United States ports, which, if implemented, could have a devastating impact on Virgin Islanders’ wallets.

The proposed fee hikes include up to $1 million for any vessel operated by China entering a U.S. port and up to $1.5 million per Chinese-built vessel entering a U.S. port — even if the ship is registered elsewhere. Shipping companies who have Chinese-built vessels in their fleet would be charged up to $1 million per port entry regardless of where the entering ship was built.

The proposal was first announced last month by the U.S. Trade Representative — the federal agency responsible for developing the nation’s foreign trade policies. The agency’s investigation into China’s activities targeting the maritime and shipbuilding industries began almost a year ago under the Biden administration after a petition from five labor unions: the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the Maritime Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

Their petition claimed that the waning U.S. shipping industry could not recover — or operate sustainably — amid China’s “rapidly growing network of Chinese-built vessels, owned and operated by Chinese shipping companies and others, financed by Chinese state-owned banks, and favored by a spreading web of global ports and terminals owned by Chinese firms.” According to the petition, Chinese shipyards produce more than a thousand oceangoing vessels per year. The U.S. produces fewer than 10.