Danish container shipping line Maersk said it expects no immediate effect from a U.S. plan to slap steep port fees on Chinese ships.

The plan to tax China’s maritime shipping follows what is known as a Section 301 investigation in 2024 by the United States trade representative that found China leveraged unfair advantages to dominate global shipping and shipbuilding.

Under the finalized rule issued by USTR April 17, Chinese-operated and -built ships could be liable for millions of dollars in charges for vessels calling U.S. ports.

Maersk (MAERSK-B.CO) in an advisory to customers Thursday said that while the ship fees take effect immediately, the fees will be set at zero dollars for the first 180 days before increasing as of Oct. 14.

“At this time, we do not see a direct cost from this initiative impacting Maersk or our customers. We do not anticipate changes to our U.S. port rotations due to the new fees. Your current service plans remain unchanged.”

The carrier said it continues to monitor developments closely.

The USTR in April modified its proposed rule for ship charges after pushback from shippers and other maritime stakeholders. The new plan bases the fees primarily on net tonnage and containers, and only assesses them on the first call of a port rotation, rather than for each call.

Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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