It became known which shipping companies were most affected by Trump’s tariffs
15.04.2025 - 14:44
The trade conflict between the US and China has led to significant losses among container lines, especially in the trans-Pacific region.
Among the most affected container carriers in the trans-Pacific region are Hede, Matson, SeaLead, TS Lines and COSCO. Splash writes this with reference to Linerlytica research.
The listed companies have suffered the most risks due to the immediate consequences of the trade war between the US and China, which has effectively stopped most business relations between the world’s two largest economies.
“US tariff concessions are not enough to restore trans-Pacific traffic, and cargo orders in China are reported to be down by 30-60% in the next three weeks, while in the rest of Asia this figure could decrease by 10-20%,” the report says.
At the same time, the upcoming holidays may further reduce cargo demand in May. This is likely to force carriers to cancel additional sailings in the coming weeks to slow the fall in freight rates.
However, data from Clarksons Research shows that 6% of global container trade in TEUs is US imports from China, and these cargoes will now be subject to increased tariffs of 145%. A further 8% of goods are subject to tariffs at the base level of 10%.
“For smaller niche carriers, this trade war is particularly devastating,” Sea-Intelligence analysts warned. “Most of them are heavily dependent on large volumes of cargo from China and do not have sufficient equipment to quickly reorient to cargoes from other regions. For some of them, we can expect complete suspension of services during the trade war.”
In response, global carriers plan to reduce the number of calls to US ports, while redirecting some cargoes from China to other Asian production centers.
The so-called trade war is already having a visible impact on ports. China’s Ministry of Transport reported that container throughput at Chinese ports fell by 6.1% in the week from April 7 to 13.
USM previously reported that shares of leading shipping companies have fallen amid Trump’s “tariff war.”
Trump’s tariffs could also hit imports at the busiest U.S. port.
