Container bookings surge by 277%! US firms frantically stockpile goods to compete for Chinese cargo

As China and the US implemented a series of tariff adjustment measures, US importers significantly increased their import orders from China this week. Data from multiple shipping companies and industry trackers showed that China's cargo volume to the US has rebounded significantly.

Container bookings surged by 277%

On Wednesday, Eastern Time, Vizion, a container tracking data software provider, stated that after China and the US reached a trade "truce," container shipping bookings from China to the US soared by nearly 300%.

Ben Tracy, the company's Vice President of Strategic Business Development, revealed that in the seven days leading up to Wednesday,the average number of container shipping bookings from China to the US surged by 277%, reaching 21,530 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), compared to an average of 5,709 TEUs in the seven days leading up to last Monday (May 5).

On April 2, Trump announced plans to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese-made goods, leading to a sharp decline in container bookings by US importers. However, after the US and China reached a tariff agreement on Monday, US importers' bookings surged again.

According to the joint statement issued by China and the US on April 2, within the next 90 days, the US will reduce tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, while China will reduce tariffs on US imports from 125% to 10%.

Tracy said, "Now that there's this temporary truce, we're definitely starting to see a rebound in bookings."

Shipping bookings surge

Earlier that day, German container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd stated thatin the first three days of this week, the company's bookings on the US-China route increased by 50% MoM.

Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said, "I expect a surge in trade volume between China and the US, which is what we've already seen in the past few days."

On Tuesday, Eastern Time, Ryan Petersen, the founder and CEO of freight forwarding company Flexport, posted on his X account, "Since the first day of the trade agreement, our ocean freight bookings from China to the US have increased by 35%. A significant backlog is imminent, and vessels (space) will soon be sold out."

Paul Brashier, Vice President of Global Supply Chain at logistics company ITS Logistics, said, "My clients have pre-loaded thousands of containers in China, ready for shipment."

He expects a further surge in container shipping volumes in the next four to six weeks.