Splash247: Shipping lobby warns US against port fee plan that could spark reprisal

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the industry’s top lobby group, has cautioned Washington over its plans to revitalise domestic shipbuilding by charging foreign-built vessels higher port fees. 

The Trump administration’s long‑awaited Maritime Action Plan (MAP) has resurrected a controversial proposal to charge foreign‑built ships a per‑kilogram fee on imported cargo.

The 36‑page plan – which remains merely as proposals at present – features a universal infrastructure or security fee on all foreign‑built commercial vessels calling at US ports, to be assessed on the weight of the imported tonnage arriving on the vessel.

The plan modelled a fee range from $0.01 to $0.25 per kilogram – a penny‑a‑kg yield of roughly $66bn over a decade, the high‑end scenario approaching $1.5trn, vastly higher than 2025’s briefly enacted port fees. 

The ICS in a release said the proposed fees would represent a “substantial” additional cost burden on maritime transport. 

“Such measures risk distorting trade, increasing costs for US consumers and businesses, disrupting the smooth flow of global commerce, and could encourage retaliatory measures,” the ICS warned. 

Trump’s maritime masterplan has drawn much debate this week. One Splash reader commented: “More tariffs on imported cargo. That won’t please the voters when they have to pay more short-term taxes for the sake of a long-term ambition which is doomed to fail. As for building ships in America, they will need foreign labour for that, which doesn’t seem to stroke with the other parts of Trump’s policies.”

Last year, the US briefly levied higher port fees against Chinese-linked tonnage, something that saw Beijing immediately retaliate.