WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — President of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Private Sector Organization (CPSO), Dr Patrick Antoine, says the decision by the United States to impose a port fee of US$1 million per port call on any Chinese-built vessels calling at US ports, will be “devastating” for CARICOM countries.

The action by Washington is designed to punish Chinese shipbuilders and promote US shipbuilding, but Caribbean countries, among others, have told the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that the measure would hurt economies that depend on US trade.

Antoine, in his request to appear before the USTR public hearings on the proposal in Washington, DC, said that the fees would lead to “astronomical levels” of the increased cost of goods being moved out of US ports into the Caribbean.

“Indeed, the social and economic ramifications of any such measures by the United States is unthinkable,” Antoine said, adding “the CPSO also recognises the immediate jeopardy which any measure as may be under consideration by the USTR, will hold for CARICOM member states, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname, among others, where well over 50 per cent of the ships plying these routes are Chinese constructed”

The public hearings are to continue on Wednesday, and Antoine said that “if afforded the opportunity to give testimony at the hearing, the CARICOM private sector organisation will present evidence on the significant economic impact of the proposed measure, which will also bring damage to US firms with operations in the Caribbean”.

He said that some of the analysis done by the CPSO indicates that the new fees could lead to a 60 per cent increase in shipping costs to and from the Caribbean region.

The Caribbean Shipowners Association (CSO) has also urged the USTR to rethink the policy, saying that passing these new fees on to consumers would have devastating effects.

“The customers of the CSO members are not in a position to absorb an increase of 38 per cent in the cost of the same transportation they receive today.

“They would need to pass that cost on to their customers or cease exporting. If they cease exporting, this would mean a loss of jobs in the United States and even higher costs for those customers that continue to export, since the cost imposed by the proposal would need to be spread across a lower volume of cargo,” the CSO added.

Over the last weekend, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said his government is concerned that moves by the United States to impose a levy on Chinese-built ships that operate in US ports could have a significant impact on his country’s economy.

“An analysis has been done, and we have been advised that shipping a container could increase by about US$3,000 to US$4,000,” Browne said, adding, “Now if that happens, you are talking about an increase in prices of between eight and 10 per cent easily, which would be extremely inflationary at this time considering that there is already an elevated rate of inflation of about 4.5 per cent at the moment.

“This means that inflation could trend up to 12 or 14 per cent,” he added.