The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published revisions to proposed port service fees intended to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry after hearing concerns from the industry. A year-long Section 301 investigation included a public hearing and nearly 600 public comments, including some from U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) on behalf of the red meat industry.
“Ships and shipping are vital to American economic security and the free flow of commerce,” Ambassador Greer said in a USTR release. “The Trump administration’s actions will begin to reverse Chinese dominance, address threats to the U.S. supply chain and send a demand signal for U.S.-built ships.”
USTR remarked the changes reflected the need for action and the importance of limiting disruption for U.S. exporters.
One of the significant changes important to U.S. red meat exporters is that fees will not be charged on every port call – only per voyage. This will reduce the likelihood that carriers will eliminate port calls, which had been a major concern for U.S. exporters.
“One of those key ports being Oakland, which just so happens to be one of the highest volume ports for our high-quality chilled U.S. beef import going into the Asian markets,” says Dan Halstrom, USMEF president and CEO.
The revised service fee structure is based much more on vessel capacity rather than flat fees, making it less burdensome for smaller ships used on shorter routes such as to Central America and Colombia.
Halstrom said that’s definitely improvement from where we were, and he believes USTR did listen to the concerns the industry had.
“For U.S. beef and pork, the schedule is much more attractive in terms of fees and a lower per pound basis impact,” he adds. “Anything that adds cost to the process is always a concern. But compared to the original proposal, we are very encouraged by these improvements that USTR has made.”
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