April 7, 2025 | Page 24

Container Shipping Quarterly
Special Report
Rachel Shames, vice president for pricing and procurement at the forwarder CV International.“ Carriers are becoming more aggressive with rates.”
Four importers that spoke with the Journal of Commerce likewise said carriers are now quoting contract rates below $ 2,000 per FEU to the West Coast and $ 3,000 per FEU to the East Coast.
“ Round two is now south of $ 2,000,” per FEU to the West Coast, said one importer in the apparel sector.
Kevin Parkerson, an industry consultant and former logistics manager at national retailers, said he’ s seeing pricing discussions at around $ 1,800 per FEU and $ 2,900 per FEU, respectively, to the West and East coasts.
“ I would not be surprised to see $ 1,700,” per FEU to the West Coast, he added.
Trans-Pacific spot rates slide to 15-month low in March
Container spot rates from North Asia to US West and East coasts, in USD per FEU
USD per FEU
$ 11,942 $ 10,000
$ 8,000
$ $ 10,000 6,000
$ 4,000
$ 2,000
$ 0 L Jul Jan 2024 Jul
Jan Feb 2025, 2025
L
Tariff confusion, frustration
While they negotiate new service contracts with carriers, importers are also trying to plan their sourcing and supply chain requirements while wading through the day-to-day confusion over the Trump administration’ s ever-changing policy on tariffs.
Frustrated retailers and importers say it has become increasingly difficult to plan ahead.
“ We are making estimates on [ the tariffs’] impact on a per-unit basis and determining how that might impact imports on [ vessel ] strings where we do not have many options,” said an automotive importer.“ This whole tariff thing is causing chaos and an inability to plan. We hate it.”
An importer in the furniture sector said he is almost becoming numb to the bluster and constantly changing announcements from the White House on which nations will be hit with tariffs and how much those tariffs will be.
Source: Platts, S & P Global
North Asia to US East Coast
“ Whatever answer I get could change in the next 24 hours,” the source said. If and when some clarity is achieved as to how the tariffs will affect sourcing,“ we will certainly go to our carriers” to lock in vessel space, he added.
Meanwhile, importers say they will continue to frontload seasonal merchandise while they wait for clarity on tariffs. One importer said he is already bringing in backto-school and other fall merchandise, and another said his team is preparing to begin importing year-end holiday merchandise soon depending on the ability of factories in Asia to deliver the products.
email: bill. mongelluzzo @ spglobal. com
North Asia to US West Coast
© 2025 S & P Global

Converging factors

New alliance vessel plans add to ongoing EU port congestion
Unions staged multiple shortterm work stoppages at the Port of Le Havre( pictured) in March. Alexandre Prevot / Shutterstock. com
By Greg Knowler
Severe congestion plagues ports across Europe with new alliance vessel plans combining with strikes, bad weather and fully occupied container yards to delay ships and disrupt terminal operations.
The bottlenecks affected North Europe and the Mediterranean, with carriers, terminals and forwarders reporting lengthy delays in some ports.
Maersk said in an early March advisory that all terminals in Antwerp were congested“ due to the phase-in and
24 Journal of Commerce | April 7, 2025 www. joc. com