Shipping companies are buying fewer of China’s bulk commodity carrier ships “as the industry waits to see if President Trump will press ahead with historic port charges on vessels constructed in” in China, Bloomberg reports (April 2, 2025).
Just four made-in-China bulkers—ships that ferry everything from coal to salt—were sold in the second-hand market in March, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd. data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the fewest since at least 2022, and about a fifth of the monthly levels observed last year. Transactions involving Japanese and Korean carriers were little changed in the same period.
The slowdown in purchases is the latest sign that the US proposals are impacting markets, and hampering Chinese-owned vessels, even before they’re finalized and introduced. The Office of the US Trade Representative is seeking to bring in charges that could rack up above $1 million per port call, but the measures are opposed by swaths of the global shipping industry and the supply chains it serves.
Market actors are probably factoring in the fact that the Trump administration is not invariably deterred by swaths of opposition to its radical policy proposals.
Japan seems to be getting some of the mega-ship business that China is losing. According to Burak Cetinok, a researcher a Arrow Shipping, a ship brokerage, “Most of the ships that have changed hands in recent weeks are Japanese-built.”
The Chinese-built ships that do sell are selling at a discount: during a recent week, “for about $5.8 million less than a comparable Japanese carrier.” That’s an increase of $1 million in an already existing discount. Before the new U.S. port costs were announced, ships of comparable age and size were reportedly being sold for about $4.8 million less than ships not made in China.
Cetinok adds that shipping companies whose vessels don’t visit U.S. ports as often as those of other firms regard the drop in demand for Chinese-built ships as “an opportunity to acquire ships at attractive prices.” If so, they have no inclination, we may assume, to decouple from China on other grounds.
