Every: In Deepest Ship

The maritimes they are a changin'

• Recent policy proposals from the USTR on port fees for Chinese-built and operated vessels have shocked the global maritime industry.

• The implications are markedly higher costs to import and export from the US, disruption to trade routes, and the likely need to bifurcate ocean carrier fleets into China and non-China entities – as well as a possible surge in US shipbuilding.

• While the radicalness of this proposal makes it seem unlikely to happen to those favouring free markets, such disruption is entirely in keeping with President Trump’s broader policy agenda of “America First”, and pressing US national security concerns.

• Importantly, the US has made this ‘turn to the sea’ three times in its past on that basis.

• This strategy today has huge market implications; and, if it fails, huge geopolitical ones