U.S. suspends port-entry fees for Hyundai Glovis

Seoul [South Korea], November 11 : Hyundai Glovis Co., South Korea's largest car carrier, has received a major relief after the United States government decided to suspend its vessel port-entry fee sanctions for one year. The decision spares the company from an annual burden of around 200 billion won (USD 137.2 million), as per a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business News Korea, on Monday.

The U.S. Office of the Trade Representative (USTR) had earlier imposed a port-entry fee of USD 46 per net ton on car carriers built outside the United States. The measure, which began on October 14, was aimed primarily at Chinese-made vessels. However, following a trade truce between Washington and Beijing earlier this month, the U.S. formally announced a one-year suspension of the sanctions under Section 301 of the Trade Act.

After the suspension was published in the Federal Register last Thursday, the fee requirement was lifted starting Monday and will remain suspended until the end of next year. The move provides immediate relief to Hyundai Glovis, which had been forced to pay significant sums due to the new U.S. policy.

Industry sources told Pulse that Hyundai Glovis is now preparing to roll back the surcharge fees it had passed on to shippers as a result of the U.S. charges. The company will no longer apply these surcharges to freight charges incurred from Monday onwards.

For the period between October 14 and November 9, however, Hyundai Glovis is still considering whether to maintain a surcharge, since it must pay port-entry fees for ships that entered U.S. ports during that time. The company believes that shippers should share the cost burden for that specific period when the charges were still applicable.

A shipping industry insider told Pulse that the suspension of port-entry fees could be extended beyond next year, depending on how trade relations between the U.S. and China develop.

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