Chinese govt waives or cuts port and logistics fees to counter coronavirus impact

At Tuesday China State Council's meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decisions were made on coordination mechanisms for stable performance in six key areas of employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment, and market expectations.

"The coordination mechanisms for stable performance in the six key areas have played an important role in forging inter-agency synergy to keep major economic indicators within the proper range," Li said.

The government is suspending/reducing port fees and other logistics fees to help revive imports and exports from 1 March to 30 June.

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All port construction fees applying to imports and exports will be waived from 1 March to 30 June, port security charges, cargo dues and some of the other port charges will be reduced by up to 20%.

Charges for non-tanker cargo vessels will be cancelled, the cost of railway insurance and fees on containers and freight cars will be halved.

Further tax and fee cuts will be made to logistics-related services. Insurance companies are encouraged to lower or exempt premiums for commercial vehicles, ships and aircraft whose operations are suspended during the outbreak.

"It is important to further cut costs for logistics companies," Li said.

Local Chinese port operators are also offering fee reductions and preferential measures to maintain stable operation of the ports, mainly including China Merchants Port, Shenzhen Port, Guangzhou Port, Shanghai International Port Group, Tianjin Port, Xiamen Port, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, Liaoning Port Group and Shandong Port Group.

Currently, the work resumption ratio of cargo terminals in China is more than 90%, container throughput of the eight major container hub ports posted a growth of 4.7% last week.