Well, to a little consternation, I could not post the initial article because it contains a [“horrible and vile” word] that is associated, and rhymes with “tat” ![]()
But here is a nice explanation of China’s response to US imposing port fees on Chinese-built vessels.
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/navigating-chinas-new-tonnage-tariffs-on-us-linked-shipping/
I guess, in some ways, the Chinese government is poking fun by mentioning “US built” vessels. At least, that’s one way to interpret the inclusion of US built vessels. But, during the week, I was think of the various publicly traded shipping companies (focusing on the tanker segment) that could be affected by the new policies.
International Seaways (INSW) is a particularly interesting one. The company owns vessels in both the crude (dirty) tanker and the refined products (clean) tanker space. The company owns 11 VLCCs, of which 7 are Chinese built. There is a listed VLCC route - US Gulf to China. If any of INSW’s 11 VLCCs carry cargo on this route, they are impacted. Any of the 7 Chinese-built vessels would have fees dinged on the US side, but none on the Chinese side. The four non-Chinese built VLCC would likely have no fees on the US side, but dinged fees on the China end. Around 80% of INSW’s fleet of 80-ish vessels is non-China built. So, I think INSW has other challenges.
Ownership percentage is another challenge. It is mentioned in the article. Will be interesting to see how that data is interpreted by Chinese authorities. Financed vessels pose another challenge.
It isn’t preceded with “may you”. It is “We live in interesting times!”