LOS ANGELES/SINGAPORE >> New fees imposed on port calls by China and the U.S. are reducing the number of cargo vessels available for moving goods and threatening to increase consumer costs in both countries, industry executives said.

Ship operators have taken China-linked ships out of U.S. trade lanes to avoid new port fees that started on October 14. They are also moving U.S.-linked ships out of China schedules to avert retaliatory fees that went into effect the same day.

Those workarounds are disrupting transits and squeezing ship cargo space, even as operators remain uncertain about how China assigns U.S. ownership or control in its fee assessment.

“The list of available ships to call China’s ports is definitely smaller than before, across all shipping markets,” said Stamatis Tsantan

See Full Page