Chinese shipping companies are working with global partners to reduce their US exposure and explore more regional market opportunities, as the industry braces for the introduction of steep new US port fees in October.
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Washington plans to charge Chinese-linked vessels hefty fees to enter US ports as part of a drive to rein in China’s globally dominant shipyards, and the controversial new levies are already driving deep changes in the shipping industry.
“The container shipping industry is undergoing an unprecedented historical evolution,” Cosco Shipping Holdings, the Shanghai and Hong Kong listed arm of Chinese shipping conglomerate Cosco Shipping Group, said in its interim report released last week.
Though it did not refer to the US port fees directly, the shipping giant noted that it was focusing on expanding into emerging and regional markets as a forward-looking response to market changes.
In the first half of the year, the carrier recorded a 9.5 per cent year-on-year increase in Chinese mainland services, a 5.2 per cent uptick in intra-Asia services, and 11.9 per cent growth in other international services – including routes to Africa and Latin America. Its transpacific services were also up 4.7 per cent over that period.
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Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL) – a Cosco subsidiary that owns the shipping brand Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) – was more explicit about the risks posed by US port fees in its interim report, but also highlighted potential opportunities.