As USFIA members know, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that the government will begin charging fees per net ton or ship rotation (whichever is higher) on October 14, 2025, and those fees will continue to increase annually on April 17 until 2028. We have two economic impact analyses to share with you that help put these fees in perspective.
The World Shipping Council is calling on USTR to reconsider the shipbuilding fees due to the harm it will cause to U.S. exporters, farmers, and manufacturers. As part of their webpage on the USTR Shipping Fees, they share a graphical economic impact analysis of the announced fees per ship rotation from October 2025 through April 2028, which shows the new service fees that shipping lines can expect to pay. A 25,000 net tonnage vessel would face fees starting at $1.25 million in October, while a larger 75,000 net tonnage vessel would be looking at $3.75 million.
These fees could have far-reaching ripples, as S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Economic Impact Analysis for WSC and the Pacific Merchants Shipping Association helps illustrate. The Liner Shipping industry directly supported over 169,000 jobs and $77.1 billion in revenue for businesses operating at U.S. ports in 2023, the most recent year for which annual results were available. The Liner Shipping industry also indirectly supported 631.5 thousand jobs, $117 billion in GDP, and $27 billion in government revenue when the whole supply chain is included. If you extend the analysis to all the inputs and components used by U.S. businesses, the Liner Shipping industry supported 5.7 million jobs and $1 trillion in GDP.
This analysis was based on the 18,461 liner ship calls at U.S. ports in 2023.