Cruise Ship Visits to China Ports at Risk

China has implemented a new port fee in retaliation for a similar port fee at U.S. ports targeting Chinese cargo ships, as well as ships built in China. While the China fee is also primarily aimed at American cargo ships, the Chinese government is extending the fees to visiting cruise ships.

According to The Maritime Executive, the fees are quite costly and have already forced at least one U.S.-based cruise company to cancel a scheduled visit to Shanghai. Oceania Cruises’ Riviera was scheduled for a one-day port call on Oct. 16 but would have had to pay approximately $1.6 million in additional port fees to do so. Instead, the ship went to Busan, South Korea.

In a statement sent to TMR, Oceania confirmed it has canceled all upcoming visits to mainland China (namely Shanghai and Sanya) as well.

“Due to recently enacted retaliatory regulations enacted by China, ships can no longer effectively visit mainland Chinese ports. We are therefore revising select itineraries to replace port calls in mainland China. We share in the disappointment of these necessary changes and are committed to providing our guests with itineraries that deliver exceptional destination experiences,” a spokesperson for the line said.

There are currently two U.S.-based cruise companies with ships scheduled to visit Shanghai next month – Holland America Line and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Like Oceania’s Riviera, those visits will incur large port fees. Under the new policy, China is charging $56 per net ton, with the fees increasing to near $157 per net ton by 2028. For a ship like Holland America’s Westerdam, the additional cost would be over $2 million.

In an email to TMR, Regent Seven Seas Cruises confirmed that it has replaced Seven Seas Explorer’s three-day visit to Shanghai next month with a day at sea and visits to two Taiwanese ports.

Cruise ships from U.S.-based cruise companies are also scheduled to stop at Hong Kong this month but, so far, Hong Kong is not included in the increased port fee policy.

Currently, the only non-Chinese cruise ships that are being exempted from the fees are those that are homeported in the country. Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas, which homeports in Shanghai and operates short sailings marketed to Chinese cruisers, returned to Shanghai on Oct. 17 without any issues.

The only other international cruise ship homeported in Shanghai is MSC Cruises’ Bellissima. As MSC Cruises is not a U.S-based cruise company, its ships would not be subject to the new port fees even without an exemption.