Confused By New USTR Port Fees? What Shippers Need to Know

Key Takeaways for Shippers:

• New USTR port fees start Oct. 14, 2025, on Chinese and certain foreign-built vessels.
• Limited exceptions apply (Short-sea, small vessels, empty ships).
• Rates rise annually through 2028, potentially adding hundreds of dollars per container or vehicle shipped.
• Prepare now by reviewing contracts, budgeting for surcharges, and exploring alternate routes or capacity.

On October 14, 2025, new port fees will be imposed on certain vessels at U.S. ports — which may mean higher costs for importers bringing goods aboard those ships into the U.S.

These arrival fees soon to be imposed by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) are causing a buzz across the transportation industry and the global market. But they're also causing confusion about what the fees are, what they will apply to, and how they will impact shippers.

At Anderson Trucking Service (ATS), we've been helping importers, exporters, and shippers of all types of goods navigate the various costs, tariffs, fees, and requirements of moving freight in the global market for decades.

Our experience with the complexities of international and cross-border supply chains uniquely positions us to help you understand the new USTR port fees and what they'll mean for your bottom line.

In this article, we'll break down the fees and the effect they may have on the transportation industry and supply chains. Let's dive in.

USTR Port Fees 2025: What Shippers Need to Know

Beginning Oct. 14, 2025, new fees will be imposed upon entry of Chinese-owned, operated, and/or built vessels to a U.S. port. The fee rate will increase annually over a three-year period from 2025 to 2028.

The USTR's definition of "China" in this instance includes the People's Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, and Macau.

The Section 301 USTR port fee structure, announced in April, sets the fees ("Annexes") at the following rates:

• Annex I: Chinese-owned or operated vessels - Fee is assessed per U.S. voyage based on net tonnage, starting at $50 per net ton.
  • The fee will gradually increase by $30 per net ton annually beginning April 2026. In April 2028, the fee will plateau at $140 per net ton.
    
    
• Annex II: Chinese-built vessels - Fee is based on net tonnage or container volume, whichever is higher, per each rotation or string of U.S. port calls, starting at $18 per net ton or $120 per container.
  • The fee will gradually increase beginning April 2026. The net tonnage fee will increase by $5 per net ton annually; the per container fee will increase by $33 in April 2026, $42 in 2027, and $55 in April 2028 to plateau at $33 per net ton or $250 per container.
    
    
• Annex III: Foreign-built vehicle carriers (Roll-on/roll-off ships) - A flat fee of $150 per Car-Equivalent Unit (CEU) is assessed at the first U.S. port of call on a given service string. Annex III applies to all foreign-built vehicle carriers (Ro/Ro vessels), not just those built in China.
  
  
• Annex fees may be imposed on a given vessel no more than five times per year, once per U.S. rotation. Overall exposure to the fees will depend on service frequency and fleet composition.
  
  
• These fees are not cumulative (or "stacked"), meaning vessels will not incur both The Chinese-owned or operated vessel fee takes precedence; a vessel that is operated by a Chinese company and was built in China will not be subject to the fee on Chinese-built vessels.

According to the USTR, these new fees are intended to "bolster U.S. shipbuilding" and "eliminate Chinese shipbuilding dominance" by "disincentiviz[ing] the use of Chinese shipping and Chinese-built ships."

A September 2025 report by HSBC Global Investment Research found that:

• 71 percent of global container ship capacity is non-Chinese built
• 21 percent of capacity on the Transatlantic and Transpacific trades is Chinese-built tonnage
• 15 percent of U.S. port calls in 2024 were made by Chinese-built vessels

These percentages help to contextualize the overall reach and impact of these fees on the U.S. market.

USTR Vessel Fees: Key Exceptions and Exemptions

There are several exceptions to the annexes, though they are limited. All three annexes have the following exceptions:

• Arriving to the U.S. empty or in ballast
• Small vessels, i.e. vessels under 4,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) or 55,000 deadweight tons (DWT)
• Dry bulk carriers with an individual bulk capacity of up to 80,000 DWT are also exempt
• Operating certain short-sea trades, intra-Gulf services, and Great Lakes routes
• S. flag vessels enrolled in certain U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) programs
• Certain specialized vessels dedicated to U.S. exports

There is also a "remission incentive" that applies to Annexes I and II only. Under this incentive, owners and operators of Chinese vessels may have fees suspended for up to three years "if the vessel owner orders and takes delivery of a U.S.-built vessel of equal or greater capacity."

Who Pays USTR Fees?

The vessel owner must pay all accumulated fees to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).  

While the vessel owners are responsible for writing the check to CBP when the bill comes due, the expectation is that carriers will pass these costs on to shippers — so let's look at that next.  

How Will the 2025 USTR Port Fees Affect the Freight Market?

While these new USTR fees may have the intended effect of weakening Chinese shipping companies' hold in U.S. markets by raising operating costs, they will also raise U.S. logistics expenses, which will impact global trade.

To understand how these fees will end up affecting you as a shipper, let's first address how they will cause carriers to change their behaviors (and rates). These shifts will ripple out through the freight market and ultimately shape the fees' impact on your supply chain.

USTR Annex Fees: Carrier Costs and Fleet Adjustments

Both the Annex I and Annex II fees could result in millions of dollars of additional costs for maritime carriers — and those costs will only increase over the course of the fees' multi-year ramp-up to full strength.

An example by importer/exporter consultant and technology company BluSpark Global showed that a Chinese-built, 10,000 TEU capacity vessel with four U.S. calls annually delivering 5,000 containers per voyage would incur $4.3 million in fees annually at Annex II's starting rate.

By 2028, that number will have risen to nearly $8 million annually — and that's just the cost for one vessel. For large carriers with multiple vessels on U.S.-bound trade routes, the costs will quickly add up to tens of millions of dollars annually.

Nearly all carriers affected by these fees will attempt to recover by passing the costs onto shippers through surcharges or general rate increases. They may also take other actions to reduce their exposure to the fees, such as:

• Alliance network swaps: Chinese-run carriers may swap vessels within alliance networks to call on U.S. ports, as this could present opportunities to reduce costs for all alliance members.
• Deployment adjustments: Carriers may shift Chinese-built ships within their fleets to non-U.S. routes and redeploy non-Chinese built ships to trans-Pacific trade routes.
• Re-routing: In some cases, carriers or large shippers may route cargo through Canadian or Mexican ports to avoid the new U.S. port fees.
• Increased reliance on U.S. built ships: The new fees aim in part to bolster U.S. shipbuilders, but this is a long-term proposition due to the expense and time required. Realistically, the soonest a few new U.S.-built vessels may enter service would be the late 2020s or early 2030s.

Each of these strategies may help carriers soften the impact of the fees on their operations, though they do have their limitations.

Many carriers have long relied on numerous Chinese vessels in their fleets, and workarounds to near-U.S. foreign ports will add time, complexity, and cost — not to mention port and rail congestion that will impact the rest of the market.

While some carriers have assured customers they will do everything they can to minimize their fleets' exposure to fees (and therefore the customers' exposure to surcharges and increased base costs), shippers remain wary.

Their cautious instincts may prove them right. Even if carriers delay raising prices to allow shippers to adjust, the fundamental economics of the fees' impact — higher costs that will be passed on — mean shippers will nevertheless have to adjust their cost expectations sooner or later.

How the New USTR Port Fees Will Affect Shippers

As you've undoubtedly gathered, the bottom line is that shippers should expect to pay more for maritime shipping logistics after the USTR port fees take effect in October 2025.

The added cost for shippers may vary widely, but BluSpark estimated:

• Annex I fees could translate to an additional cost of $550–$1,600 per container over the 2025–28 ramp‑
• Annex II fees could drive an additional cost of $175–$400 per container, depending on whether the net tonnage or container volume formula is used.
• Importers could see ocean freight bills to rise from 10-40+ percent per container as the program escalates through 2028.

These additional costs will likely manifest as line-item surcharges or base rate increases. Carriers are signaling "port fee" or "regulatory cost recovery" surcharges are imminent, even if some say they'll try to absorb the costs initially.

In the immediate future, shippers that frequent the Trans-Pacific lanes and certain bulk export strings should expect to see the most pricing friction.

They should also anticipate a run on capacity. As carriers reassign non-Chinese built hulls to U.S. strings to avoid Annex II fees, it will push some Chinese-built vessels to other regions, tightening capacity on U.S. lanes even further beyond fee pass-through.

Given these significant changes to transportation costs and capacity, let's wrap up by looking at other strategies shippers can employ to minimize their exposure to fees.

Preparing for 2025 USTR Port Fees: Steps for Shippers

Shippers will need to work closely with carriers and freight forwarders to develop shipping solutions that can offer both reliable capacity and cost-effectiveness in the wake of Annexes I-III.

Here are some actionable steps you can take to help cushion your supply chain against the impact of the new USTR port fees:

1. Map your exposure. Ask carriers to identify vessel operator/owner and place of build for your routings to gain visibility into whether the fees will affect your shipments. Ensure this is baked into your quarterly bid templates.
   
   
2. Check your contracts. Make sure your agreements say carriers can only charge you these fees if your freight is actually on an affected vessel. Ask for proof of vessel ownership/build if they bill you.
   
   
3. Run the numbers. Estimated extra costs for the 2025-2028 ramp-up are $120-$150 per container, $18-$33 per NT, and $150 per CEU. Build these ranges into your budgets and set auto-triggers to alert you when your projected costs rise above defined thresholds.
   
   
4. Look at alternate gateways. See if moving freight through Canada or Mexico (then putting it on railcar to enter the U.S.) could make sense for your supply chain if ocean costs get too high.
   
   
5. Lock in capacity where you can. If you've got the option, reserve space now on vessels not subject to the new annex fees.
   
   
6. Time your exports wisely. If you're exporting bulk goods, move as much as you can prior to Oct. 14, 2025, if possible. Alternatively, utilize trades that fall under the short-sea carve-outs.
   
   
7. Track the new fees separately. Work with your financial tea to set up a special line in your books for "Annex Fees." This will allow you to see exactly how much these charges are costing you, empowering you to push back if needed.

The bottom line? Don't wait for these surcharges to show up on your invoice to act. Start asking questions, adjusting your budgets, and looking at backup plans now, so you're not scrambling once the new fees kick in.

Prepare Your Supply Chain for USTR Port Fees in 2025 & Beyond

The new USTR port fees going into effect in October 2025 will reshape the cost structure of moving freight into and out of the U.S. by targeting Chinese-owned, operated, or built vessels — as well as all foreign-built vehicle carriers.

While exemptions exist, most importers and exporters should expect higher costs, capacity pressures, and new surcharges as these fees ramp up through 2028.

Understanding how these changes apply to your shipments is the first step toward controlling your bottom line. By mapping your exposure, tightening your contracts, and exploring alternative gateways, you can minimize surprises and keep your supply chain resilient.

If you want to strengthen your planning even further, the next step is knowing which ports matter most. Explore our guide to the 10 busiest U.S. ports in 2025 and how to choose the right one for your freight to learn where your cargo is most likely to land and how choosing strategically can help offset the impact of these new fees.