Container lines

Importers can get a fairly good sense of how to proceed over the next few months based on developments to date, but things will get fuzzy when the separate cooldown periods for tariffs on China and the rest of the world expire this summer, writes Lars Jensen.

The Zim Central China Xpress will restart next week, little more than a month after Zim announced its suspension as part of the carrier’s broader 30% to 35% trim in its trans-Pacific network.

MSC plans to provide all of the tonnage in a US Gulf service, with Zim slated to get a lower share of slot space as weaker demand forces service changes.

The carriers want to raise prices by more than 50% in a bid to stem the slide in rates that began at the end of December and is showing no signs of slowing.

With less than half of CMA CGM’s fleet built in China, CFO Ramon Fernandez believes US services can be structured to avoid the incoming tonnage fees.

Container lines are looking to capitalize on a ramp-up in Asia-US bookings during the 90-day tariff reduction that followed Monday’s deal between the Trump administration and China.

Rates are climbing quickly amid fresh Chinese volumes headed to the US, with an expected crunch in vessel capacity and the potential for port congestion driving the gains. 

On top of the persistent pressure of overcapacity and muted demand, industry sources have also linked the market softening to the historical seasonal pattern of the Indian export trade.

The predicted rush to get US imports from China on the water has begun as shippers take advantage of the 90-day cut in tariffs, according to CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.

The carrier was commenting after reporting its first-quarter results along with Taiwan’s other two mainline carriers, Evergreen Marine and Wan Hai Lines.

The National Retail Federation also warned the negative growth will accelerate, with imports through the summer expected to be at least 20% lower than the corresponding month last year. 

There remains no guarantee of safety for ships, crew and cargo passing through the waterway, which means it would likely be out of bounds for the rest of the year, says CEO Vincent Clerc.

Importers in the US are rewiring their supply chains and drawing extra inventory from Canada, Mexico and domestically in a “wait and see” response to the trans-Pacific trade war, according to Vincent Clerc.

The world’s largest shipping company said Wednesday the service suspensions and network changes were “in response to the recent changes in demand for cargo transport from Asia to the US.”

The freeing up of vessel capacity that has been diverted around southern Africa for the past 18 months could inject as much as 2 million TEUs of functional capacity into the global container shipping market.

While the Jones Act carrier added another service from Vietnam in the first quarter, it says volumes from that country won’t replace what’s lost from China.

The restrictions have “effectively” made direct vessel calls to either Karachi or Port Qasim on India services operationally impossible, according to major container lines.

The broader goal of NYSHEX’s new container index is to provide rate information that will support the use of hedging tools for shippers, NVOs and carriers against increased volatility.

While ongoing port congestion in North Europe and longer voyages around the Cape of Good Hope will help to absorb incoming vessels, it will also leave the trade lane open to volatile shifts in capacity that cannot be planned for, a Journal of Commerce webinar was told.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, which handles about half of all US imports from Asia, is so far due to experience 59 blanked sailings between May 1 and June 30.

The country’s trade commission originally fined 11 foreign carriers and 12 domestic lines following a three-year investigation that showed the lines fixed rates 120 times over a 15-year period on South Korea-Southeast Asia services.

With demand expectations faltering, carriers have either jettisoned or substantially lowered the increases they were planning to implement beginning May 1, forwarder sources tell the Journal of Commerce.

The carrier and competitor Hapag-Lloyd announced strong financial results Wednesday, but both said the success of early 2025 won’t be replicated through the balance of the year given market headwinds linked to the global trade conflict.

Container lines saw a first-quarter demand boost from US shippers eager to bring in cargo before the April implementation of the Trump administration’s tariffs.

With far fewer US-bound goods leaving Chinese docks, carriers have accelerated the raft of blank sailings and service suspensions that began earlier this month, sources tell the Journal of Commerce.

The flagship of Santos Brasil is Tecon Santos, the largest container terminal in South America with a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs that will soon be expanded to 3 million TEUs.

The latest deals will increase the total number of methanol-enabled ships Wan Hai has on order to 32, worth a total of almost $5 billion.

F. Paul De Maria will become the new CEO of the group representing ocean carriers and marine terminal operators at East and Gulf coast ports.

The award is less than the electronics giant sought in its complaint against Zim over detention and demurrage billing, a case that saw the judge chide Zim’s billing practices.

S&P Global’s Flash PMI for April, released Thursday, shows that economic output in the developed world hit its lowest point since 2023, boding poorly for container growth this year.

Carriers and importers are dealing with confusion over how tariffs in general, and the trade war between Washington and Beijing specifically, will affect commerce on the US’ busiest trade lane over the next 12 months.

The analyst downgraded its container handling outlook following similar moves on global and US economic growth by the IMF and WTO this week.

The carrier said its Gemini Cooperation alliance with Maersk is not resorting to blanked voyages to deal with the downturn, but it did redeploy ships to deal with demand changes.

Shippers and ocean carriers told the Journal of Commerce they are reviewing the USTR actions to estimate how the fees will flow down to freight costs.

But executives at both northern range hubs highlighted the extreme volatility of the first three months and the US tariff-driven uncertainty that lies ahead.

The increase in blank sailings coincides with the Port of Los Angeles’ expectation that container volumes will plunge 14% month over month in week 18 and 38.6% in week 19.

The alcoholic beverage industry is in decline as consumer tastes change, which is being felt in the import business as it deals with flat volumes.

The very idea of the United States getting back into shipbuilding at scale shows an erosion in acceptance of the concept of global trade, specifically comparative advantage.

In addition to various ongoing supply chain disruptions that US agricultural shippers face, they must now contend with the highly volatile tariff environment that is forcing them to seek new markets for their products.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) laid out actions to counter China’s maritime dominance that could put Cosco Shipping and subsidiary OOCL on the hook for millions when their ships call the US.