The US does not build container ships. They are made primarily in low cost China and Singapore shipbuilders.
If Chinese-built containership fines take effect, ‘we’re out of business in U.S.,’ ocean carrier says
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- Atlantic Container Line, an ocean carrier which handles large industrial items including the wings for Airbus planes, says it will be forced to abandon the U.S. market if the government follows through on threats to fine Chinese-built shipping vessels.
- Its CEO Andrew Abbott tells CNBC that freight rates will head back to Covid surge levels and there will be no economic rationale to continue to operate as a niche freight company within the U.S.
- “This hits American exporters and importers worse than anybody else,” says Abbott. “If this happens ... we’re going to have to shut down.”
Niche ocean carrier Atlantic Container Line is warning the fines the U.S. government is considering hitting Chinese-built freight vessels with would force it to leave the United States and throw the global supply chain out of balance, potentially fueling freight rates not seen since Covid.
“This hits American exporters and importers worse than anybody else,” said Andrew Abbott, CEO of niche ocean carrier ACL. “If this happens, we’re out of business and we’re going to have to shut down.”
USTR held its second day of this week’s hearings on the fines that would be levied under Section 301 of U.S. trade law on Wednesday, with over 300 trade groups and other interested parties warning the government across comments letters and in testimony that the U.S. is
no position to win an economic war that places ocean carriers using Chinese-made vessels in the middle. Soon, Chinese-made vessels will represents 98% of the trade ships on the world’s oceans.
The policy proposal, begun under the Biden administration and culminating in a January report concluding
China’s shipbuilding industry had an unfair advantage, would allow the U.S. government to impose steep levies on Chinese-made ships arriving at U.S. ports. For Chinese-owned operators (such as Cosco), a service fee of up to $1 million could be charged on each vessel. For non-Chinese-owned ocean carriers with fleets containing Chinese-built vessels, the service fee would be up to $1.5 million for each U.S. port of call.
fee.org
