Chinese flows to US falling but transpacific rates holding steady
- SCFI Shanghai-US west coast rates are up 3% from the week tariffs took effect; Shanghai-US east coast rates are up 2%
- Carriers have heavily blanked sailings, just as they did during the early days of Covid, to keep rates stable
- Decline in Chinese cargo heading to the US is being offset by increases from other Asian countries as importers frontload ahead of the next reciprocal tariff deadline
There is an anomaly amid the doom and gloom over tariffs and the plunge in Chinese cargoes to America: spot rates on the transpacific are slightly up from where they were when US President Donald Trump first hammered China with 145% levies. Carriers have been holding the line
