China to US container bookings soar nearly 300% after trade war truce
The agreement to pause tariffs for 90 days promises early peak shipping – but challenges lie ahead, industry insiders warn
Container bookings from China to the United States have surged nearly 300 per cent after the world’s two biggest economies agreed to pause sky-high tariffs that threatened global shipping, according to Vizion, a container-tracking service provider.
The latest seven-day booking average from China to the US soared to 21,530 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), up from 5,709 for the previous week ending May 5 – a huge 277 per cent increase, said Ben Tracy, Vizion’s vice-president, in an online post on Wednesday.
“With an August deadline for possible higher tariff levels, we’ll likely see front-loading restart, meaning an early start and probably an early tapering off of the ocean peak season this year,” said Freightos, an international freight booking platform, in a weekly report released on Wednesday.
Shipping firms have welcomed the pause on duties.
“Since the agreement was announced, we have seen an increase in bookings for our trans-Pacific services,” maritime giant Maersk said on Tuesday.