*

Trump administration signals it wants to stop purchases

of

China-made port cranes

*

Industry group executive sees 100% tariffs as "the floor"

*

Trump tariff push comes after Biden imposed 25% levies on

China

cranes

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES, July 11 (Reuters) -

U.S. seaport operators are asking for extra time to

implement pending tariffs on towering ship-to-shore cranes as

they expect President Donald Trump's administration to follow

through on a promise to essentially ban that vital

cargo-handling equipment.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) earlier this

year proposed tariffs of up to 100% on those cranes after China

devoured market share in its bid to dominate maritime

manufacturing as well as commercial and military dominance on

the seas.

China, via state-owned Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZMPC),

now commands the global market and has supplied some 80% of the

ship-to-shore cranes in the United States. ZPMC has more than

200 cranes in operation across nearly two dozen U.S. ports,

including Houston, Los Angeles and New York. Each of those

cranes costs anywhere from $10 million to $20 million.

Countering that trend is a priority for the Trump

administration, whose officials stated in meetings they intended

to put an end to such purchases, said Carl Bentzel, president of

the National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE), which

represents terminal operators and other groups.

Asked whether he expected the tariff rate to land at around

100% when USTR issues its pending decision on the matter,

Bentzel said, "I've been operating under the position that

that's the floor. This essentially is a ban on the use of

Chinese manufactured cargo equipment."

USTR and the White House did not immediately comment.

Trump is not the first U.S. President to push ports to buy

higher-priced cranes from manufacturers with ties to U.S.

allies, including Konecranes of Finland, Mitsui E&S ( MIESF )

of Japan and Swiss-headquartered Liebherr.

Joe Biden slapped 25% tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes from

China in 2024 after the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure

Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the

National Security Agency publicly stated that China has sought

to preposition cyber vulnerabilities in American critical

infrastructure, including port equipment.

U.S. officials also warned that modems, software and other

technology in that equipment could be a backdoor for spying on

military operations or used as kill switches to hobble port

operations.

Nevertheless, ports and terminal operators continued buying

lower-cost Chinese cranes.

"The inaction and resistance from the port operator

community is focused on short-term cost savings and massively

underestimates the ultimate cost of inaction," said William

Henagan, a Council on Foreign Relations research fellow who was

director for critical infrastructure at the National Security

Council under Biden.

U.S. port operators and representatives for ZMPC

in letters to USTR in May said security concerns

linked to the cranes were out of proportion to the risk.

Opponents also warned that the tariffs could heave billions of

dollars of unexpected costs on the industry, stifling

improvements meant to keep U.S. ports competitive.

These days NAWE, one of the industry organizations

representing terminal operators, is working to mitigate the

impact of the new tariffs by asking for exemptions for

previously ordered cranes and a transition period for the

implementation of new duties.

"We've chosen to work with them," Bentzel said.