President Trump said on Monday the US will charge a 20% fee on all goods
transiting the Strait of Hormuz to recover the cost of US military protection.
Shipping operators and logistics experts say such a levy would sharply raise
transport costs for oil and other cargoes, though some analysts doubt it will be
implemented because of the high expense. Trump gave no calculation method for
the 20% fee; if levied on cargo value it could more than double oil transport
costs. ING senior economist Rico Luman estimates current tanker freight from the
Gulf to Europe at about $10/bbl; with oil near $80/bbl, a 20% value fee would
add roughly $16/bbl, lifting transport costs toward $26/bbl. For a 2m-barrel
cargo, that would increase costs by more than $30m.
