Sponsors (4)
Introduced July 10, 2025 by Sheldon Whitehouse · Last progress July 10, 2025
The bill forces a trade‑off between significant local health and climate benefits from decarbonizing maritime shipping and substantial near‑term costs and compliance risks for importers, small operators, and consumers, while creating dedicated funding for long‑term port transition programs.
Residents living near ports and coastlines (including children and other vulnerable groups) will experience lower local air pollution and related health risks as vessels shift to cleaner fuels, shore power, and zero‑emission propulsion.
Reducing lifecycle CO-e from shipping and imposing fees on high‑carbon fuels advances U.S. and global climate goals by lowering maritime greenhouse gas emissions over the long term.
Fees and credit structures create a predictable domestic price signal that encourages importers and ship operators to invest in cleaner fuels, technologies, and emission controls.
Importers, consumers, and businesses will face higher shipping and goods prices because of new per‑ton CO‑e fees and pass‑through costs.
Small shipping firms, importers, and other operators face substantial compliance, reporting, and administrative costs that could disrupt operations or lead to reduced employment during the transition.
Steep and compounding penalties combined with strict payment deadlines create large cash‑flow risks and could bankrupt smaller importers or carriers that miss payments.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Imposes lifecycle GHG and air‑pollutant fees on qualifying large cargo voyages, requires detailed voyage reporting, and funds a Jones Act vessel decarbonization program from collected fees.
Creates a new federal regime that charges lifecycle greenhouse gas and air-pollution fees on large international cargo voyages that bring goods to the United States, requires detailed quarterly voyage reporting, and directs a portion of those fees to a Maritime Administration program to replace or retrofit U.S.-flag (Jones Act) vessels with battery or very-low-carbon propulsion. The EPA must develop lifecycle greenhouse gas and pollutant profiles for maritime fuels and assess per-voyage fees starting January 1, 2027; late payments carry steep escalating penalties. The measure targets large cargo ships (defined by size and destination rules), exempts certain voyages (military, disaster relief, specified existing regimes, and Jones Act voyages for the fee program), allows fee crediting for comparable foreign fees, and sunsets the U.S. fee program if an equivalent global lifecycle fee is adopted and enforced by the IMO or another U.N. body. Beginning in FY2029, 25% of collected fees are appropriated to MARAD to fund vessel replacement/retrofit grants, loans, and rebates for Jones Act vessels that shift to batteries or fuels with at least a 90% lifecycle CO2 reduction.