Ministry of Transport: Special port fees for ships in the United States

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On October 10, the Ministry of Transport issued an announcement on the collection of special port fees for US ships.

On April 17, 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative issued a Section 301 investigation into China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries. Starting from October 14, 2025, additional port service fees will be levied on ships owned or operated by Chinese companies, Chinese-nationalized ships and Chinese-made ships. This seriously violates the relevant principles of international trade and the China-US Maritime Agreement, and causes serious damage to the maritime trade between China and the United States.

In accordance with laws and regulations such as the "International Maritime Transport Regulations of the People's Republic of China" and basic principles of international law, with the approval of the State Council, starting from October 14, 2025, ships with ownership of ships by U.S. companies, other organizations and individuals; ships operated by U.S. companies, other organizations and individuals; U.S. Ships owned or operated by enterprises, other organizations and individuals that directly or indirectly hold 25% or more of the equity (voting rights, board of directors seats); ships flying the US flag; ships built in the United States, the maritime administration agency where the ship calls at the port is responsible for collecting special port fees for the ship. The relevant matters are announced as follows:

1. For the above-mentioned ships, special port fees will be charged based on the voyage, which will be implemented in phases. The specific charging standards are as follows (less than 1 net ton will be calculated as 1 net ton).

For calls to Chinese ports starting from October 14, 2025, RMB 400 per net ton will be charged;

Starting from April 17, 2026, berthing at Chinese ports will be charged at RMB 640 per net ton;

For calls to Chinese ports starting from April 17, 2027, the fee will be RMB 880 per net ton;

Starting from April 17, 2028, berthing at Chinese ports will be charged at RMB 1,120 per net ton.

2. If a ship calls at multiple Chinese ports on the same voyage, the ship's special port fee will only be paid at the first port of call, and will not be charged at subsequent ports of call. The same ship may collect special port fees for no more than 5 voyages within a year.

3. The Ministry of Transport will formulate specific implementation measures.

It is worth noting that it is reported that the State Council decided to amend the International Maritime Shipping Regulations of the People's Republic of China and today announced the collection of special port fees. This is all in response to the official implementation of the new Section 301 (Section 301) regulations for the Chinese shipbuilding industry by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

According to the latest report from maritime intelligence company Alphaliner, if the current deployment is maintained in 2026, a total of eight major shipping companies will be levied additional fees, totaling up to .2 billion. Among them, COSCO Shipping Group is the most affected. All its routes in the United States use Chinese-owned or operated ships, and the levy is expected to be as high as 1.527 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly half of the total.