Dive Brief:
- Ocean container rates from Asia to North America saw a slight uptick last week as the Trump administration’s tariff-driven trade strategy roils global markets, Freightos reported Wednesday.
- Rates from Asia to the U.S. West Coast were up 10% week over week to $2,465 per forty-foot equivalent unit, per an April 16 market update. Rates to the East Coast went up 3% to $3,647 per FEU.
- As shippers navigate trade uncertainty, a pullback in China-to-U.S. volumes, paired with an increase in demand from other Asia trade lanes, may reflect “diverging rates on the port-pair level,” according to Freightos.
Dive Insight:
U.S. shippers have been frontloading goods since November to get ahead of tariffs, Freightos reported. The administration’s plans to roll out country-specific reciprocal tariffs April 9 prompted another rush to move cargo before the new duties went into effect.
Trade tensions escalated further last week after the U.S. hiked reciprocal tariffs on China to 125% — meaning that many imports from China will face up to 245% duties when combining all active levies, according to a White House fact sheet.
Although reciprocal tariffs on most countries are currently paused for 90 days, "many of those sourcing from other Asian countries have already started increasing their orders again in an effort to get ahead of possible tariff resumptions in July," according to Freightos.
The early move on inventory has indeed contributed to high volumes at the Port of Los Angeles, said Executive Director Gene Seroka. In the last quarter, the port handled more than 2.5 million total twenty-foot equivalent units, up 5.2% year over year. Despite the strong start to the year, Seroka projects that port volumes will decline by 10% through the end of the year starting as soon as May.
Shipments from China, meanwhile, are seeing an increase in blank or voided sailings due to lower demand, Clint Dvorak, senior director of ocean operations and customs brokerage at SEKO Logistics, told Supply Chain Dive. SEKO, for instance, already reported 11 canceled sailings originally scheduled for May.
“We are seeing canceled bookings as well as increased requests for bonded warehouse solutions to hold cargo upon arrival,” he said. “There is a concern we may see some abandoned cargo as well, with importers unable or not wanting to pay the increased tariff obligation.”
The shifts in ocean bookings are occurring during the traditional contract negotiation period for Asia-to-U.S. ocean contracts, further driving market uncertainty and possible shipment delays — especially on cargo originating from China, said Dvorak.
