The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) is adding its voice to freight industry complaints about a White House decision to impose a 25% tariff on Chinese-built ship-to-shore (STS) cranes.
In its statement, AAPA said it supports efforts to spur the manufacture of critical port equipment in America, but said there are presently no firms capable of building large cranes domestically. In the meantime, there are currently at least seven U.S. ports that have 35 STS cranes on order from Chinese manufacturers, AAPA said.
The Biden Administration has also warned that Chinese-made cranes post a cybersecurity risk to American supply chains, since spies and hackers could tap into their networked sensors to monitor details of cargo port operations.
However, some trade groups have said that the recent tariffs announced on cranes—and other goods such as batteries, electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar cells, and steel and aluminum products—may help boost the U.S. manufacturing sector by protecting it from competition by lower-priced imports, but it will harm U.S. consumers who ultimately pay higher prices.
With an eye toward the long run, AAPA is working with the Maritime Administration (MARAD), an agency of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), to incentivize domestic manufacture of STS cranes. The two groups are surveying port authorities and marine terminal operators (MTOs) to anticipate the “order book” of ports’ cargo handling equipment needs over the next five and ten years.
But in the short term, AAPA says the tariffs come too soon. “Simply put, AAPA is confident that the tariff, if imposed, will not meet its stated objectives," Cary Davis, AAPA’s president and CEO, said in a release. "Instead, it will only result in negative outcomes, including grave harm to port efficiency and capacity, strained supply chains, increased consumer prices, and a weaker U.S. economy.”
