The freight rate for US routes surged by $1,000/FEU in a single day! Freight rates for container shipping on US routes rose in response, but a full recovery in capacity still takes time.

Against the backdrop of tariff easing, cargo owners' shipping demand increased, leading to an undersupply in the US-route container shipping market in the short term and a significant rise in freight rates. A Caixin reporter recently interviewed several port and shipping industry insiders and learned that the booking volumes of liner companies have increased compared to before, but it will still take some time to adjust capacity. On the port side, some port areas reported that cargo volumes had declined by approximately 30-40% due to the impact of tariffs earlier, and a noticeable increase in cargo volumes is expected to emerge in 1-2 weeks.

"From May 12th to the present, the number of customers inquiring about US-route shipping space through YunQuNa is expected to have nearly doubled compared to before May 12th," Lei Lei (pseudonym), a US-route shipping management expert at international logistics service provider YunQuNa, told a Caixin reporter.

An insider from an international liner company also told a Caixin reporter that currently, due to tariff easing, the company's US-route booking volumes have increased.

Despite the increase in inquiries and booking volumes, capacity has not yet recovered. Regarding the current situation of overbooking in the market, an insider from a port area in east China believes that the main reason is still the limited shipping space, caused by the liner companies' earlier capacity adjustments and voyage schedule changes. Another relevant business leader from a publicly listed port company in south China disclosed to a Caixin reporter that currently, in their port area, shipping companies have gradually redirected capacity that was previously withdrawn from the US route to other destinations such as the Middle East and the Mediterranean back to the US route.

"In fact, under the impact of tariffs earlier, our company did not cancel any US-route services, but we did reduce capacity (for example, by using smaller vessels). For the current level of US-route cargo volumes to recover, the market still needs some time to 'digest' it. For instance, it takes a certain amount of time from when a customer decides to place an order to when the shipping company receives the booking, and it also takes time for the shipping company to reallocate capacity," the aforementioned international liner company insider further explained.

Based on this, several port insiders told a Caixin reporter that it will take 1-2 weeks for noticeable changes in port cargo volumes to emerge. The market reaction at the container truck level will also not be so swift.

Wang Wentao, founder of Shanghai Vulture Network Information Technology Co., Ltd. and ALUCK, also explained to a Caixin reporter that the container truck segment comes after freight forwarders make bookings. Currently, the data on their platform does not reflect an increase, and it is expected that order volumes will only be reflected in container truck fleets next week.

"This is mainly because even for customers who placed orders and made bookings on May 12th, they still have to wait a week for customs declaration, clearance, and other procedures to be completed before they can ship their cargo," Lei Lei analyzed. He added that for cargo volumes to return to normal levels, it is expected to take at least 1-2 months to digest the backlog of shipping demand that had accumulated due to the impact of tariffs earlier.

However, Cailian Press reporters also noticed that due to insufficient shipping capacity and market undersupply, market freight rates have undergone significant changes.

Data provided by Jiyu Technology today showed that the number of sailings from Shanghai to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles that can be queried has increased significantly, from 12 sailings yesterday to 27. As of today, Maersk's quote for the sailing departing on May 26 is $3,035/FEU, an increase of $1,015/FEU from yesterday's quote of $2,020/FEU. The quotes from ONE and MSC remain unchanged from yesterday. CMA CGM's freight rates for sailings departing from May 18 to June 3 have risen from $3,646/FEU-$3,846/FEU yesterday to $4,546/FEU. Hapag-Lloyd's quote for sailings departing in June has even reached $9,013/FEU.

Regarding the trend of the container shipping market for the entire year, a source from another major liner company told Cailian Press reporters that, based on the current situation, there are still many uncertainties in the market's development this year, and the current situation tends to be cautiously optimistic.