2026 Shipping Costs from China: What the Paused Port Fee Means for You

Summary

On April 17, 2025, USTR finalized a Section 301 action. It adds per-ton port fees on Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated, and Chinese-built vessels calling at US ports. The fees took effect October 14, 2025. They were suspended on November 10, 2025 for one year after the Trump and Xi trade deal.

If they return on schedule, Annex I alone climbs from $50 per net ton in 2025 to $140 per net ton by 2028. Carriers will push most of that through as surcharges on container cargo. Small importers usually eat a bigger share of those surcharges than large retailers. This includes personal builders, boutique retailers, and single-project buyers.

Add the April 2026 Strait of Hormuz disruption. The case for planning ahead is stronger than the headline rate alone suggests.

What the policy actually does

USTR's Section 301 action splits ships into three annexes. The fee you pay depends on who owns and operates the ship, not only where it was built.

Key cap. Fees are charged on the first US port call of each voyage rotation. They are capped at five chargeable rotations per vessel per calendar year.

If you assume the fee only hits vessels physically built in China, you are reading it too narrowly. Chinese-operated ships fall under Annex I at the higher rate even if the hull came out of a Korean or Japanese yard.

Why the rule touches almost every China order

Two data points do most of the work.

Chinese yards built most of the recent fleet. From January to December 2025, China delivered 53.69 million dwt. Global share: 56.1%. Year-on-year growth: 11.4%. New orders reached 107.82 million dwt, about 69% of global. The orderbook share sits at 66.8%. Source: MIIT and CANSI, reported by Seatrade Maritime.

The majors buy from Chinese yards. Maersk, MSC, and CMA CGM all source from China. Maersk has placed dual-fuel orders at New Times Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang. CMA CGM ordered 12 of its 18,000-TEU class from CSSC Jiangnan. CMA CGM took delivery of the CMA CGM Antigone in December 2025.

If you import furniture, building materials, or finished goods from China, your container is almost certainly on one of two vessel types. Annex I means Chinese-operated. Annex II means Chinese-built but operated by Maersk, MSC, or CMA CGM. Avoiding the fee completely is not realistic for most small buyers.

A quick TEU refresher so the fee math makes sense

TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent unit. One 20 ft container equals 1 TEU. One 40 ft high-cube (40HQ) equals 2 TEU. A 40HQ has roughly 67 to 76 m³ of usable volume.

A small cabinet measuring 1.2 m by 0.8 m by 1.5 m is 1.44 m³. About 16 to 20 of those fit into a single 20 ft container after packing loss.

Ship sizes:

• Medium container ships: 3,000 to 8,000 TEU.
• Trans-Pacific mainline to US West Coast: 10,000 to 16,000 TEU typical.
• Asia to Europe mainline: 15,000 to 24,000+ TEU (ultra-large class).

Why Chinese ships dominate the spec sheet

Certification. China Classification Society (CCS) is China's national classification body and a member of IACS. As of late 2025, CCS is authorized by 64 major flag state administrations, including China's.

Safety standards. Hulls use high-strength marine steel, low-temperature steel, and corrosion-resistant coatings. Key equipment is built to global unified standards. It is inspected against IACS rules.

New-build technology. Newer Chinese yards are delivering LNG dual-fuel, methanol-ready, and hybrid-electric vessels. Maersk and CMA CGM are ordering exactly those specs from them.

Unit economics. On a trans-Pacific 40HQ, carriers running Chinese-owned vessels have historically quoted at the lower end of the carrier mix. Indicative late-2025 band:

• Chinese lines: $1,800 to $2,400 per container.
• HMM: $1,900 to $2,600.
• ONE: $2,000 to $2,800.

Treat these as a sanity-check range, not a firm budget. Real quotes move with free-allocation slots, origin port, and fuel adjustment factors.

If the policy restarts, where the cost actually lands

The fee is paid by the shipping line, not by the importer directly. That is where the idea "only carriers lose money" falls apart. Carriers do not absorb fees of this size. They pass most of it through as a surcharge or a higher base rate.

A freight-industry estimate projects the surcharge could add 10 to 30% per container at current rate levels. It could reach 40% per container by 2028 under the full ramp. Source: Bluspark Global. That is an industry forecast, not a USTR estimate. Read it as a planning ceiling.

Surcharges usually split three ways. Part absorbed by the carrier. Part compressed out of the seller's margin. The rest passed to the importer. Small-volume buyers usually pay a bigger share than large retailers. This includes single-home builders, boutique retailers, and custom fit-out projects. Volume leverage is not there to negotiate the line off the invoice.

What the real spot market looked like in 2025

Trans-Pacific spot rates on 40 ft (FEU) moved in a wide band through 2025. Freightos FBX showed West Coast rates dipping near $1,400 per FEU in early October. Rates then rose into the $2,000s around the October 14 implementation date.

The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) trended up from spring into October. It eased after the November suspension. Those are aggregate numbers. Individual carrier quotes varied within a 5 to 10% band on the same lane.

The Hormuz layer is already hitting 2026 shipping costs

The Section 301 pause is not the only thing moving 2026 freight rates. The Strait of Hormuz is the other story.

After the US and Israeli air campaign against Iran that began February 28, 2026, Iran blocked or heavily restricted transits through the Strait. The US imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports on April 13, 2026. On April 22 and 23, 2026, Iran's IRGC Navy seized two container ships in or near the Strait. The ships were MSC Francesca and Epaminondas. Brent crude is trading near $100 per barrel, up roughly 50% year-on-year.

Hormuz primarily carries oil, not containers. But when it closes, several things happen at once. Vessels reroute. Bunker fuel prices spike globally. Carrier capacity tightens. All three effects land on container-shipping invoices, including ones that have nothing to do with Gulf cargo. If the Section 301 pause ends on schedule and Hormuz is still disrupted, both cost layers hit the same container.

What small importers should do right now

Three practical moves while the fee is suspended (November 10, 2025 to November 9, 2026):

1. Run long-haul shipments before Q3 2026 where the project schedule allows. Any container that lands before November 9, 2026 is outside the fee regardless of what happens after.
2. Ask your freight forwarder whether your assigned vessel would be Annex I or Annex II post-suspension. The difference per FEU can be several hundred dollars under the "higher of $18/NT or $120/container" rule.
3. Keep a slower but cheaper option on the table. Some carriers are already rerouting Chinese-built vessels off US calls to avoid the fee. Transit time goes up. Base rate comes down. For non-rush finish materials like furniture, bulk tile, or joinery, the tradeoff is often worth it.

How FelixDeco handles this for clients

FelixDeco works with a long-standing partner carrier in Foshan, Guangdong. Foshan is one of China's main export-origin regions for furniture and decor. We track vessel assignment, Annex exposure, and booking windows as part of every quote. If Section 301 returns in November 2026, we rebook exposed shipments onto lower-fee corridors before the surcharge reaches your invoice.

If you are planning a 2026 project, ask us to quote under the post-suspension scenario. That could be a single-home build, a boutique hotel, or a custom fit-out. You will not get re-priced mid-order.

Get a 2026 shipping quote

Also useful: our live US to China tariff tracker covers non-ship tariffs on finished goods like furniture, lighting, and home materials. It updates as policy changes.

References

1. USTR, Section 301 Action on China's Targeting of Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors, Apr 17, 2025. ustr.gov
2. USTR, Fact Sheet: USTR Takes Action to Bolster US Shipbuilding, April 2025. ustr.gov
3. Holland & Knight, USTR Port Fee Suspension: What You Need to Know, Nov 2025. hklaw.com
4. Vedder Price, Understanding the US Trade Representative's Port Entry Fees on China-Linked Vessels, 2025. vedderprice.com
5. HFW, USTR Port Fees: Updates, Clarifications, Proposed Modifications, 2025. hfw.com
6. Norton Rose Fulbright, USTR Proposes Modifications to LNG Tanker and Vehicle Carrier Actions, 2025. nortonrosefulbright.com
7. North Standard, USTR Section 301 Vessel Fees, CBP Key Information, 2025. north-standard.com
8. Seatrade Maritime, China Retains Shipbuilding Crown in 2025. seatrade-maritime.com
9. China Classification Society, About CCS (flag-state authorizations). ccs.org.cn
10. Container News, Maersk Books up to a Dozen 16,000-TEU Ships at Chinese Shipyard, 2025. container-news.com
11. Shanghai Shipping Exchange, SCFI (weekly index). sse.net.cn
12. Freightos, Weekly Freight Update, December 9, 2025. freightos.com
13. Bluspark Global, Navigating the 2025 Section 301 Maritime Transport Service Fees. blusparkglobal.com
14. CNBC, Iran War and the Strait of Hormuz, Tanker Traffic and Oil Prices, Apr 23, 2026. cnbc.com

Written by Felix Liang. Edited by Roy Zhu. Reviewed by [add reviewer name] for factual accuracy and SEO. Published April 24, 2026. Last updated April 24, 2026. Figures and policy status verified against USTR notices, Seatrade Maritime, CCS, and industry legal commentary as cited above. If the Section 301 suspension status changes, we will update this article. Current check: the November 9, 2026 pause is still in force.