Trendwatch: China urges US to scrap port fee plan; Import cargo levels continue to rise among uncertainty over tariffs; Global container trade still strong, but front-loading not the cause

China urges US to scrap port fee plan

At a regular news briefing the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the planned fee of up to $1.5 million per call at US ports by Chinese-built vessels would hurt the US itself and disrupt supply chains.

Last week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) proposed new fees on vessels operated by Chinese ship operators or built in China calling on US ports as a means to counter China's dominance in the maritime sector.

Import cargo levels continue to rise among uncertainty over tariffs

Amid continuing tariff turmoil, imports at the nation’s major container ports are expected to remain elevated through this spring but volume could see year-over-year drops this summer, according to the Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Global container trade still strong, but front-loading not the cause

Global container traffic in January continued to show underlying strength, according to recently released figures from Container Trade Statistics (CTS).

Although almost every trade showed a decline in volumes from December, a year-on-year comparison saw global container volumes up 5.8% on January 2024, at 15.4m teu.

PIL advances fleet renewal with the naming of its fourth 14,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel

Pacific International Lines (PIL) has announced the naming of its fourth 14,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container vessel.

The vessel was named Kota Embun by Mrs Evelyn Ng, wife of Mr Ng Kee Choe, Deputy Chairman of PIL, in a ceremony held in the Shanghai shipyard today.

Embun means ‘dew’ in malay and symbolises renewal and harmony with nature, reflecting the vessel's role in promoting sustainable and environmentally-friendly shipping practices.

Multiple vessels report GPS disruption in Strait of Hormuz

The Royal Navy's maritime security reporting arm has received multiple reports of GPS jamming in the Strait of Hormuz, a periodic hotspot for interference. Though not as frequent as it is in the Baltic, GPS disruption has occurred in the Strait before, and have previously been linked to Iranian actors. 

Tariffs will puncture North American trucking industry recovery

The US government may have suspended tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico after two days, but the trucking industry is already feeling the pain.

Orders for new trucks have slumped amid signals that the sector’s nascent recovery may be stalling.

Canada to impose 25% reciprocal tariffs following US steel, aluminum duties

Canada will impose 25% reciprocal tariffs against the U.S. starting Thursday, according to Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs.

Canada’s new duties cover an additional $29.8 billion of imports from the U.S., roughly half being tied to steel and aluminum products. Other affected goods include computers, sports equipment and cast iron products, LeBlanc said Wednesday.

TPM25: Months of port congestion face carriers’ Red Sea return: Rotterdam 

The backlog of containers that would result from ocean carriers resuming Red Sea transits would take months to clear from Europe’s port hubs, Hanna Stelzel, the director of containers for the Port of Rotterdam, told the Journal of Commerce’s TPM25 conference this week. 

Once the Red Sea is deemed safe enough for commercial shipping, vessels taking the shorter route would overtake those diverting around southern Africa, with severe congestion expected as a result. 

Maersk vessel forced to omit Cape Town as congestion mounts

The port of Cape Town is facing significant congestion, which is set to worsen this week with more adverse weather.  

Maersk warned customers yesterday that “the waiting time in Cape Town has not improved as expected”, after its prior advisory, on 5 March, that the One Responsibility, deployed on the SAECS Europe-South Africa service, jointly operated by Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, and ONE, would omit Cape Town and sail to Europe from Durban.