Policy changes regarding trade tariffs, recently mentioned, will have an impact on maritime jobs and careers.  Future dealings regarding employment, administration and planning will all come under the microscope, as plans are put in place when business and future employees are considering their next move. Uncertainty over future policy moves have currently created unpredictability on the big topic of how industry will respond. 

Shipping companies are concerned that there will be a drop in demand for the services they provide. This, in turn, may influence employment conditions for new employees within the sector.  Companies are watching how their returns on investments, such as cargo and the containers themselves, possibly diminish as their costs increase. The knock-on effect is certain to change policy when recruitment for maritime jobs is being considered.

Fees for ships entering some ports may increase to the extent that industry stakeholders are adopting a concerned stance when considering operational costs, supply chain disruptions and potential inflationary effects. Fears that higher shipping rates may be generally applied is concerning analysts and these fears could have an effect on consumers and businesses alike.

There is opposition growing to these increases from specific employment sectors, including dock workers and freight handlers. This relates to a shipping firm’s costs, when docking at a foreign port. Specifically, these fees associated with the new tariffs may increase costs for cargo owners. They may impact on supply chains, heighten shipping rates, slow down deliveries and potentially lead to job losses at ports.

Observers following the news regarding increased tariffs and their reason for being implemented say that trade deficits are often, but not universally, seen as a cause for concern. They say that countries with large surpluses cause unemployment in deficit countries. Countries with trade surpluses are often producing excess goods over and above what they are able or willing to consume themselves. Those with trade deficits can find themselves importing goods that could have been manufactured domestically, and tariffs are seen as a way of balancing this trade gap. 

The economic dilemma that needs solving is supposed to be corrected by these tariff changes. Countries involved wish to return manufacturing jobs to their economies through the imposition of the tariffs. However, this doesn’t always work. Global supply chains now mean that companies are spread out over multiple countries. Moving whole supply chains back to a single country operation, will probably be prohibitively expensive and make that country’s goods internationally uncompetitive due to rising consumer prices. Shipping depends on the movement of these goods for continuation of its existence. Loss of manufacturing jobs is much more likely to be down to increased productivity rather than foreign competition. Developed economies are not returning to manufacturing jobs, especially if you exclude agriculture, and any tariffs aimed at resolving this disparity may potentially not work.

Tariffs are essentially taxes placed on imports that are designed to make imported products more expensive in the domestic market, thus reducing demand for the imports and fuelling the demand for a competitive product made by a company in their home market. It remains unclear whether in a modern global marketplace if these measures will be effective and for how long.