Supply Chain Digest Says...   Saadé intends to triple the size of the container line’s US-flagged fleet, among other moves, with the pledge including $8 billion for new US-made containerships     What do you say?   Click here to send us your comments       Click here to see reader feedback

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that it had reviewed a document that outlines a potential executive order from the Trump administration with as many as 18 actions designed to deliver hits to China’s growing share of global shipbuilding, while also bolstering the US’s flagging shipbuilding capabilities and share.

Among the actions proposed is a new fee for any ocean carrier coming into a US port with bulk or containerized cargo being carried on a Chinese-made ship. This could become very expensive for the carriers, regardless of which country the carrier is based in, especially for megaships making stops at multiple US ports on a single tour.

The Journal report stressed that it had viewed a draft document that details could still be changed or the order not issued at all.

Another of the actions would levy a new tariff on Chines-made container cranes.

In his address to Congress last week, Trump said his administration intends to resurrect US commercial and military ship making prowess and would create a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House. Noting that US shipbuilding has faded greatly, Trump said, “We’re going to make them very fast, very soon.”

SCDigest recently reported, almost 50% of commercial shipbuilding was done in China in 2023, far outpacing number 2 South Korea and number 3 Japan.

In this contest, Western countries are hardly in the fight, with all of Europe producing just 5% of ships and the US barely enough to register.

Commenting on the matter, Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security said that “The scale [of China’s shipbuilding] is just almost hard to fathom,” adding that “The degree to which it dwarfs American ship building is just unbelievable.”

This scenario obviously has both commercial and military implications.

One potential impact on US importers and exporters is that if the fee for using Chinese-made ships is high enough, carriers may decline to stop with smaller ships at smaller ports, as margins shrink.

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Some reports say the fee assessed will be as much as $800 per 40-foot container, the most popular in the sector.

Meanwhile, last week French shipping magnate Rodolphe Saadé, chairman of French container shipping giant CMA CGM, pledged that his company would invest $20 billion in the US over the next four years to help revive the US maritime sector.

Saadé intends to triple the size of the container line’s US-flagged fleet, among other moves, with the pledge including $8 billion for new US-made containerships.

Sources inside the Trump administration say It also says that revenue from fees on Chinese cranes and ships at Us ports would fund domestic maritime investments.

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