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Chinese factories "blow up orders," shipping companies "blow up cabins," freight rates soar, and cargo volume surges by nearly 300%... | Marine export logistics
May 16,2025
On May 14, the reciprocal tariff reduction measures between China and the United States officially took effect, significantly easing the months-long trade tensions. Due to this positive impact, the demand for transportation on China-U.S. routes has surged, transportation prices have risen sharply, and the market has ushered in a wave of "cargo rush."
According to shipping analyst Vizion data, after the tariff reduction between China and the United States, the volume of container bookings from China to the United States increased significantly. Ben-Tracy, Vice President of Strategic Business Development at Vizion, noted that as of May 5, the average seven-day booking volume was 5,709 TEU, while as of May 13, this figure had soared by 277% to 21,530 TEU.
At present, foreign trade enterprises are seizing the tariff window to speed up inventory cleanup. Wang Jianguo, vice president of Midea Group, said the tariff on most home appliances exports to the United States has dropped to 55 percent, and he expects the vast majority of Chinese home appliances to resume shipments.
In half a day, a foreign trade company in Shenzhen received calls from six American customers demanding to ship goods as soon as possible. The head of a production company said that US orders worth more than a million yuan were received on the night of the tariff reduction, and US customers were eager to complete replenishment within the 90-day shipping window.
As Chinese exporters to the U.S. market scrambled to ship, the cabins became tight. A large container company confirmed the looting and expected it to continue for the next 2-3 months. Cargo volumes on the US-China route rebounded significantly, with bookings at least doubling. The head of another supply chain enterprise also said that business has picked up significantly, with customers looking to fill previous shipping gaps caused by the trade war, and order size and cabin demand have increased significantly.
Against the backdrop of surging demand, freight prices have also risen. According to CCTV news, the ships that shipped on the China-US route at the end of May were nearly full. Mersen, Changrong, Cosco Shipping and other shipping companies issued price increase notices, which increased the price of each container by $500- $1,500. Taking the Shanghai-New York route as an example, the current tariff has reached about $4,300 / FEU. Relevant persons from freight forwarding enterprises said that compared with the first half of May, the freight rate rose about 1000 yuan / FEU in the second half of May.
Peter Sand, chief separator at Xeneta, pointed out that exporters will use the 90-day window to concentrate on shipments, and freight rates will rise significantly. Exporters may face higher transportation costs because shipping companies have previously shifted capacity to other shipping routes, which takes time to deploy.
Some industry insiders expect that the upward trend in freight prices on China-U.S. routes may continue into the second half of the year due to the centralization of the previous backlog of cargo. Although market entities are optimistic about the stabilization of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, structural contradictions and deep-seated differences between China and the United States remain. The future direction of China-US economic and trade relations still needs to be kept in rational expectation.
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