No additional port fees in the US for Chinese ships

Important for global trade: President of the United States Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have put the trade war on hold in South Korea. One of the agreements is to temporarily refrain from imposing additional port fees on Chinese shipping companies and ships built in China in the US. Countermeasures from China for American ships are also off the table (for now). According to the industry association for the logistics sector and trade Evofenedex, the agreement mainly means temporary relief for Dutch entrepreneurs regarding mutual trade tariffs. Higher import tariffs that both countries were to introduce in November have been postponed for a year. The additional import tariffs are reduced from 20% to 10%. As a result, the American import duties for the Asian country come to 47% for most goods. According to Evofenedex, this provides some advantages, especially for companies that import or export products via China. The organization also assesses it positively that Chinese ships no longer have to pay additional fees upon arrival in American ports for the time being. However, the organization is not entirely positive and calls the deal 'thin'. The underlying problems between both countries have not been resolved, and China has a poor reputation when it comes to honoring agreements, it states. Container rates rising for the third week in a row The World Container Index from Drewry has risen by 4% this week to $1,822 per 40-foot container. This is the third consecutive increase after seventeen weeks of declining spot prices. The increase is especially seen on routes from China. From Shanghai to Los Angeles, the price rises by 6%, to Genoa by 5%, to New York by 4%, and to Rotterdam by 3%. Shipping companies on the route from Asia to Europe are trying to drive up spot prices according to Drewry by introducing higher FAK rates (Freight All Kinds) from November 1 to try to increase spot prices ahead of the new season for annual contract negotiations. The data platform expects spot prices to decline in the coming quarters. The waiting time due to port congestion is, nearly two weeks after the (successful) strike of the dockworkers in the port of Rotterdam, still eight days according to data from GoComet, just like a week ago. In Antwerp, this has decreased from six to five days, as in Zeebrugge. However, there is a threat of the pilots resuming the strike now on November 30. Network congestion in the Rotterdam port area In addition to port congestion, the Rotterdam port area is also facing network congestion. The waiting list for new or heavier connections has quintupled in two years from 426 to 2,068 megawatts. The overload in the port area is expected to grow from 31 megawatts in 2026 to 244 megawatts in 2029. If no measures are taken, this could lead to prolonged power outages, according to a new report. Many companies are waiting for a new or heavier connection. We are doing everything we can to expand the network as quickly as possible, says Frank Wester, Director of Operations Netherlands at network operator TenneT in a statement. The projects necessary to meet the demands of the business community are in our sights, but unfortunately they take longer than expected. Only after the commissioning of the 380,000 volt high-voltage station Europoort can the network truly accommodate the growing demand according to Tennet. That is currently expected in 2032. Measures that need to keep the situation under control until then are being explored together with Stedin, among others. These involve: 'heavier loading of cables without overheating occurring, the deployment of flexible power at customers and power generation closer to consumers, such as combined heat and power and connecting companies at a different voltage level'. Mobile switching installations are also being placed at the high-voltage station Botlek to provide relief.