The Trump administration’s incoming fees on Chinese-made vessels visiting US ports will weaken China’s shipbuilding dominance and boost Japanese and South Korean rivals, said the head of one of the world’s biggest shipowners’ groups.

Hitoshi Nagasawa, president of the Japanese Shipowners’ Association, which represents the world’s second-largest ship-owning nation after China, said fleet owners were already rethinking orders to Chinese yards and exploring alternatives ahead of levies set to take effect next month.

“Relying solely on China for shipbuilding is risky,” he said in an interview at the association’s headquarters in Tokyo. “A shift is bound to happen where those ordering 100 per cent of ships from China until now might do 60 to 70 per cent with China and 40 per cent with Japan or South Korea.”