PARIS (Reuters) – The French shipowner CMA CGM will reorganize its world fleet to avoid the American port costs which must enter into force in October on ships built in China, said its financial director, Ramon Fernandez, during an interview with Reuters.

Port costs, accumulated on the possible repercussions of American customs duties, represent an “operational complication” for maritime transport companies, said Ramon Fernandez, even if the adjustments made by Washington after a negative reaction of the industry reduced the expected disturbances.

“We have enough capacity and ships to adapt to this situation and avoid having to pay taxes in this capacity,” he said, stressing that less than half of the CMA CGM fleet, made up of around 670 ships, was built in China.

The administration of the American president Donald Trump intends to use the port costs to counter the domination of China in shipbuilding and to support a revival of American maritime transport.

On a complex scale of fees, Chinese companies operating ships built in China must pay the highest taxes to stop in American ports.

Ramon Fernandez said at a press conference that all maritime transport companies, including the Chinese company Cosco, will adapt to these taxes.

CMA CGM, the third global group of maritime transport by containers, reported in the first quarter of an increase of 4.2% over one year of the volumes transported, carried in particular by the acceleration of the demand for transport of goods before the announcement of American customs duties.

Echoing the declarations of its competitors, CMA CGM said that climbing customs duties in April impacted trade between China and the United States, before an agreement was found this week between the two powers, suggesting a resumption of the request.

Almost half of the reservations for May expeditions between China and the United States were canceled before a recovery this week, said Ramon Fernandez.

“We all expect to see in particular a month of June which will be, on these exchanges, much more active than we could fear a few days ago,” he said.

However, he refused to give growth prospects of the volumes transported by containers for the whole year, invoking uncertainty as to the evolution of the current trade war.

CMA CGM, controlled by the Saadé family, is also present in the media, via its subsidiary CMA Media which holds BFM/RMC, La Tribune or the Regional Daily La Provence.

(Report Gus Depé; Etienne Breban; edited by Blandine Hénault)

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