Input Stories

Inbound trade from China at major U.S. ports is dropping precipitously (fDi Intelligence).

The big numbers: “Departures on ships from China bound for the U.S. have almost halved from 81,448 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) containers to 44,807 TEUs, between the week Mr. Trump imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. (week of April 10) and the week starting April 28, according to the latest comparable data from Vizion.”

• Since it takes four to six weeks for a ship to cross the ocean and make it through U.S. customs, the full impact of the decline won’t become clear until the middle of this month or later.
• “‘Cargo volume at the nation’s busiest port will drop by about one-third this week [starting May 5],’ Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, the U.S.’s largest container port by import volumes in 2024, tells fDi.”

Blank sailings: More and more ships are skipping stops at ports, or having their voyages canceled entirely—resulting in what are called “blank sailings.”

• “In May 2025, the Port of Los Angeles expects 17 blank sailings out of a schedule of more than 80—around 20% of vessel arrivals. This was up from six blank sailings in the previous month and will mean 224,000 fewer TEUs entering the port in May.”
• Meanwhile, the Port of Long Beach has reported 14 blank sailings already in May, up from only four in April, while multiple shippers have announced a total of 39 blank sailings at the Port of Oakland between April and June.

Price increases: Importers are now paying much more for products as well.

• “‘Prices of products made in China now are 2.5-times more than they were just last month. Importers just simply cannot justify those costs,’ [Seroka] said in a meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on May 6.”

Leading indicator: The West Coast ports are the primary gateway for goods from China, but the decline in shipping volumes is being seen at nearly all major U.S. ports.

• “Vizion data on TEU volumes in the week starting April 28 shows that since the 145% tariff came into effect, container departures from Chinese ports bound for U.S. ports have dropped across all but two of the U.S. top 10 ports.”
• “The ports of Oakland in California and Baltimore in Maryland were the only two ports with marginal increases in TEU departures from China.”