Unsurprisingly, ocean freight volumes from China to the United States are dropping considerably, following the recent tit-for-tat trade war that has played out in the past few weeks.

Ocean freight carriers have seen bookings reduced and hundreds of cancellations on the transpacific route this month, resulting in at least three services being postponed for the foreseeable future and countless blanked sailings.

CNBC included a report on its website this week that suggested US imports from China fell by 64% between weeks 14 and 15, while US exports to China fell by 36%.

While Chinese exports have witnessed the largest drop in volume, the rest of the Asia has seen declines between 10% and 20%. However, there may be a short-term recovery as Asian exporters seek to take advantage of Trump’s 90-day postponement to the higher tariffs that he originally introduced.

The current situation is extremely challenging for carriers and unless an agreement is reached between the feuding countries in the near future, we could witness masses of capacity having to be taken off of the transpacific trade route.

In the short term, carriers are likely to continue parking vessels and blanking sailings, but in the longer term that is unsustainable and could lead to a flood of capacity being allocated to alternative routes, such as Asia/Europe.

Hopefully, one or both parties will blink and common sense will prevail. In the meantime, Westbound continue to monitor developments closely. Should you require further information, then please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team.

If you have any questions regarding the above, then Westbound are here to help. So, please do not hesitate to contact us.