The office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) held hearings this week on a proposal to impose a service fee for each U.S. port call of a Chinese-operated ship, or a per-net-ton service fee applied on the ship’s carrying capacity.  The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) submitted comments supp orting the overall intent of strengthening the U.S. shipbuilding industry, but pointing out that the proposed fees could price some products like variety meats out of the marketplace and could dramatically reduce port calls in key locations such as the Port of Oakland, which is the largest outlet for waterborne red meat exports. It is a key gateway for chilled meat shipments to Asian markets. According to USMEF President and CEO Dan Halstrom, it would take years for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to rebuild to meet the needs of U.S. agriculture and other exporters. Under the port fee proposal, options for those exporters would be very limited while that rebuilding takes place. USMEF joined more than 300 agricultural and business associations in submitting a letter to USTR outlining those concerns. https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/2626/files/2025/03/usmef-halstrom-port-service-fees-032825.mp3 ...read more read less