News / As USTR fees loom, Cosco and X-Press Feeders to launch joint services

Photo: X-Press Group

Cosco’s tie-up with Singapore-based X-Press Feeders could be a strategy to circumvent the US Trade Representative’s port fees on Chinese operators’ ships.

The tie-up, announced yesterday, will see Cosco and X-Press launch joint services across Asia, the Middle East, Mediterranean, North Europe and South America, with the Chinese carrier getting preference when chartering X-Press newbuildings.

These newbuildings may be deployed on the joint services.

The carriers described the cooperation as “a shared solution” to meeting stricter decarbonisation targets, evolving trade flows, and increasing demand for end-to-end logistics.

X-Press chief operating officer Francis Goh said: “By aligning our capabilities and vision, we aim to deliver more efficient, customer-centric solutions.”

Linerlytica analyst Tan Hua Joo, however, told The Loadstar that with 71 newbuildings of its own under construction, Cosco’s orderbook vastly outnumbered X-Press’s 14.

He added: “The partnership could be aimed at countering some of the impact of the USTR proposed port fee on Cosco-operated ships in the US, the use of feeders one of the measures to avoid the port fee.”

It is also possible that Cosco might ride on its partnerships and place its cargo on vessels operated by other companies, again avoiding the fees, or reducing the number of direct calls its vessels make at US ports.

From October, Chinese-built ships calling US ports will be charged $18 per net ton, or $120 per container discharged, whichever is higher. By April 2028, this charge will rise to either $33 per net ton or $250 per box discharged.

And Chinese ship operators must pay an additional $50 per net ton, which gradually increases to $140 by April 2028, regardless of where the vessel was built.

According to Alphaliner data, the X-Press group operates 104 ships, for a total capacity of 188,000 teu, and its newbuildings will add around 100,000 teu.

The firm is the world’s largest feeder operator and differentiates itself by serving only mainline operators, not competing with them by going directly to cargo interests.

Meanwhile, Cosco remains the fourth-largest carrier, with a capacity of 3.39m teu – its completed newbuilding programme would add just over 1m teu.