FEATURE: Global shippers brace for US action against China-built, China-owned ships

Source: Mysteel Mar 07, 2025 16:25

Global shipping companies that have Chinese-made vessels in their fleets and which regularly call at ports in the United States are bracing for what could result in a huge escalation in their costs as the Trump administration ponders punitive action against Chinese shipping companies and Chinese-built vessels now plying the world's oceans. Although Japanese and Korean shipbuilding companies and logistics firms sense a welcome surge in business - shares in HMM co, formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine and South Korea's largest shipping company, surged to a 52-week high late last month when news broke - the impact on global trade could be just as massive as Trump's tariffs, industry insiders warn.

Biden's goodbye gesture to US builders In March 2024, leading US labor unions connected with the shipping and shipbuilding industries filed a petition calling on the US Trade Representative (USTR) to take action against China's policies that support its shipbuilding industry, a call taken up by the Biden administration, which