Genco CEO Says Trump’s China Ship Fees Will Hammer Farmers, Not China

By Ilena Peng (Bloomberg) —

The largest US-based dry bulk shipper said it is prepared to pass on costs to US exporters or position its ships elsewhere if proposed US fees on Chinese ships go into place.

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. has no ships built in the US and does have “a lot of Chinese-built ships,” Chief Executive Officer John Wobensmith said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. He said the company is prepared if Trump goes ahead with fees to counter China’s maritime dominance.

“What we are doing is we will either position our ships elsewhere, there’s plenty of global trade,” Wobensmith said. He noted that 10% of revenue comes from the US, while 90% is from the rest of the world. “The other way to handle this is passing through to the end user.”

The company has already inserted clauses into its charters to ensure that the end user is responsible for any tolls or port fees that go into place, he said. Freight rates “will go up, no matter what,” and will be passed on to cargo owners and consumers.

That could impact soybean farmers in particular, who are already facing tariffs on shipments to China, increased competition from Brazil and higher production costs, Wobensmith said. Added port fees would make US soy “uncompetitive in the world market, so their exports will come almost to a grinding halt,” he said.

Wobensmith said that suitable US-built ships for dry bulk goods “do not really exist.” While Genco is “very much in favor of building and revitalizing” US shipbuilding, reviving shipyards and finding the workforce could take decades, he said.

Strengthening the industry “is a fantastic goal,” Wobensmith said. “We just don’t think it should be necessarily married with the Chinese issues.”

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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