China to US container bookings soar nearly 300% after trade war truce

Container bookings from China to the United States have surged nearly 300 per cent after the world’s two biggest economies agreed to pause sky-high tariffs that threatened global shipping, according to Vizion, a container-tracking service provider.

The latest seven-day booking average from China to the US soared to 21,530 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), up from 5,709 for the previous week ending May 5 – a huge 277 per cent increase, said Ben Tracy, Vizion’s vice-president, in an online post on Wednesday.

“With an August deadline for possible higher tariff levels, we’ll likely see front-loading restart, meaning an early start and probably an early tapering off of the ocean peak season this year,” said Freightos, an international freight booking platform, in a weekly report released on Wednesday.

Shipping firms have welcomed the pause on duties.

“Since the agreement was announced, we have seen an increase in bookings for our trans-Pacific services,” maritime giant Maersk said on Tuesday.