Catenaa, Friday, April 18, 2025-Freight carriers have begun canceling sailings from China to the United States as booking volumes plummet amid a deepening trade war, highlighting growing pressure on global supply chains and shipping routes.
At least 80 canceled sailings from China have been recorded, according to logistics firm HLS Group. The cuts follow sharp declines in orders after President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs, triggering an industry-wide recalibration of transpacific freight schedules. Major shipping alliances like ONE have suspended planned services and canceled port calls in the US , including Wilmington, North Carolina.
The canceled sailings could slash container volumes by up to 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), reducing operations at ports and impacting trucking, rail and warehouse sectors. China, which once accounted for 67% of US containerized imports from Asia, now represents just over half.
“There is no model for this,” said Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence. “We won’t see zero containers, but blank sailings will rise dramatically.”
Tariffs have led retailers to cut orders and hold conservative inventories, a reaction to previous post-pandemic oversupply. Categories such as apparel and textiles have seen booking declines exceeding 50%.
In response, ocean carriers are canceling vessel strings, omitting ports, and deploying smaller ships. These changes echo pandemic-era tactics that once sent container rates soaring.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is emerging as a beneficiary. Spot shipping rates from Ho Chi Minh City to Los Angeles jumped 24%, while the cost gap with Chinese ports has narrowed sharply.
