A US Senate finance committee has been told that not all of the proposed US Trade Representative multimillion-dollar fees for Chinese-built ships to dock at US ports will be implemented, and they may not be cumulative.

Implementation of the USTR port fee plan could come as late as November as a result of the flood of negative feedback that needs to be considered, news agency Reuters has been told.

US president Donald Trump’s administration is also slowing its consideration of a raft of country-by-country tariffs for incoming goods.

But industry insiders in Bermuda have told The Royal Gazette, that should proposals proceed, it could cause job losses, higher prices and business collapse in Bermuda.

The Oleander, which brings most of Bermuda’s goods and food from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, was made in China in 2018, and could get caught in the USTR net.

“Everybody is on edge,” conceded Randy Rochester, chief executive officer of Polaris, the holding company of port operator Stevedoring Services.

During an interview this week, he said: “I had my team in the office about an hour ago looking at contingency plans.”

He said it would not be easy to find a replacement for the Oleander.

“It is a challenge, because it is the smaller ships that enter our ports,” he said. “Ships that go to other regions generally carry thousands of containers compared to the hundreds the Oleander brings here.”

After finding the right-size vessel, another hurdle would be finding one not made in China. Seventy to 80 per cent of ships in the world are manufactured there.

Mr Rochester said if Stevedoring Services went from servicing three ships a week to offloading just one, the company would have to reconsider the staff levels of port workers.

“We could not have 32 stevedores sitting around with nothing to do,” he said.

The firm would also have to freeze expenditures on new equipment, because of the unknowns.

Despite what could be an unprecedented situation, he called himself an “eternal optimist”.

“I am hoping that this, too, shall pass,” he said. “We have to weather this storm and get back to business as usual.”

Anthony Pearman, CEO of Atlantic Import and Export thought new levies could result in business failure for some people.

“It would not surprise me, if many businesses closed, because of this,” he said.

His enterprise is an online one, mainly focused on importing construction materials such as rebar and lumber. Much of what he brings in through the United States, originates in China.

“This could cripple our margins,” he said.

He also thought it would push the price of housing construction to untenable levels.

He was looking at bringing items in through other countries, but would then have to pay more for the extra shipping time and distance.

“That option is still untested and uncharted,” he said.

Lindo’s Group of Companies manager Zach Moniz said his grocery store chain was working on a contingency plan.

“Hopefully, we don’t need to use it,” he said. “Bermuda Container Line is working hard to make sure we will be covered, one way or another.”

He said Bermuda will not run out of food, but might have to adapt to something different.

“If Trump’s fee goes through, then certainly the cost of any extra inbound freight or over land freight incurred will have to be passed on,” he said. “However, it will not be as much as you think. The price is not terrible. Some prices might be impacted, but that is all up in the air right now.”

Any price changes would also not happen overnight.

“I have plenty of stock,” Mr Moniz said. “Local suppliers have stock and so do our suppliers in the US.”

He had faith in the laws of supply and demand.

“For example, if limes in Mexico are being tariffed and the price goes up because of the tariffs, supply is probably going to go up. Then demand will drop because the price went up. Suddenly they will have too much supply in Mexico, which will drop the price.”

His hope is that the anxiety over Trump’s tariffs, launched last Wednesday, is over soon.

“The tariffs are punitive in the wrong place,” Mr Moniz said. “I understand the desire to want to do something if he feels China has been manipulating the shipbuilding market all these years, but Trump is penalising everyone else but China. It is pointless.”