by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor
At a press conference in Copenhagen last week, Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc assured that the upcoming US port fees on ships with ties to China will not increase Maersk's costs.
According to Danish media ShippingWatch, Clerc said the new version of the US port fees plan "is a significantly watered-down version compared to the first draft.”
"For us, this means that it will not cost anything."
Initially, Chinese-built vessels were expected to incur substantial costs for each port call in the US. However, the revised fees will have fees assessed after 180 days and will only apply once per voyage.
In the press conference, Clerc noted that less than 10% of Maersk’s fleet is Chinese-built, and only about 20% of Maersk’s ships call at US ports, which allows the company to make necessary adjustments.
Nevertheless, Maersk has a history of using Chinese shipyards and has recently placed several orders. Towards the end of last year, Maersk signed agreements to construct 20 LNG dual-fuel ships, 14 of which will be built in China.
On the other hand, the US port fees could pose challenges to other carriers and alliances with a larger number of Chinese-built vessels, most notably COSCO, OOCL, and the Ocean Alliance.
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