The US trade war is continuing to have a direct impact on container shipping. The number of cancelled departures on the transpacific route increased dramatically again last week.
If we look at the data, it is clear that the trade war has led many shippers to suspend or even cancel their shipments. This, in turn, has reduced demand for containerized goods, forcing carriers to cancel their departures.
Sea Intelligence’s analysis reveals a new peak in blanked sailings on the transpacific Asia – US East Coast trade route for week 19 starting Monday May 5th. If before 7th April (i.e. week no. 15), cancellations totaling 35% of the scheduled capacity had been scheduled for week no. 19, from week no. 16 (14th – 20th April), the total cancellations scheduled for the period between 5th and 11th May have now hit 42% of the available vessel capacity, i.e. 7 % on a weekly basis.
On services between Asia and the U.S west coast, scheduled cancellations for week No. 18 (28th April – 4th May) have practically doubled in the space of a week, from 13% to 28% of the available capacity from weeks No. 15 to 16
Translation by Giles Foster
