News

America's Maritime Action Plan was published late on Friday the 13th of February. The information regarding the plan was made available on the website for the White House. 

The plan has been several months in the making and is wide-ranging in scope. Some of the key takeaways are:

• Universal port fees for all foreign-built vessels. Rates ranges from 1 cent to 25 cents per KG of imported tonnage. 
• Financial and regulatory incentives for US-built or US-flagged ships. A big part of the proposal is to make easier for potential investors in US shipping to access US Govt-backed financing (Title XI)
• Deregulation and modernization of regulatory environment. This all serves to make it less burdensome to sail under the US flag

There are some interesting implications for the LNG industry, namely:

• Foreign-built vessel can be brought in under US flag (Hanwha Ocean already got the ball rolling on this recently)
• Allied partnerships. Co-operation with South Korean and Japan suggests an alignment of supply chains as a way of combating
   Chinese shipbuilding dominance/growth.
• LNG bunkering deregulation. The plan proposes to remove the requirement for multiple risk assessments around LNG bunkering operations
  
  As a note, the White House guidelines and initiatives require federal agencies approval before they go ahead.