Hapag-Lloyd will apply a General Rate Increase (GRI) / General Rate Adjustment (GRA) from the Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East to North America for cargo transported in 20' and 40' dry, reefer and special containers, including high cube equipment.
This GRI/ GRA adjustment will be implemented for all containers gated in full from 20 May and will be valid until further notice.
The GRI amount has been set at US$1,000 per container
The Indian Subcontinent & Middle East area covers India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Trag, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, while North America includes the United States and Canada.
US exporters could face demurrage, detention, destruction of cargo, or return costs, after reports suggest some Chinese importers have stopped accepting cargo.
Pat Fosberry, director of export compliance at US forwarder John S James Co, told that while the focus in the US had been on the effect of tariffs on importers, now “US exporters are beginning to feel consequences”.
“Some of our US exporters are reporting that many buyers in China are cancelling orders, stating that China’s import tariffs will escalate the landed costs to be unviable,” Mr Fosberry explained.
Sara Dandan, founder of D&D and maritime dispute company FourOneOne, explained: “The prevalent thinking for US importers was going to be to hold containers at in-bond warehouses in the US after they came in, and then re-export them back to China, to avoid customs fees and duties, and to avoid demurrage and detention fees.
“To me, this seems like the Chinese are heading that off so they themselves don’t get stuck with shiploads of product – and also as a response to rising [US] tariffs.”
And Mr Fosberry said: “It is uncertain how ocean carriers will handle the increase of containers sitting at the ports if cargo is not collected. Will they assign all the liability and costs to the US exporter if containers are not claimed and entered?
“Demurrage, detention, destruction of cargo, return to the US and US domestic costs are all possible for the US exporter.”
Ms Dandan told that, because of Federal Maritime Commission rules, even though the containers would be at a foreign port, it was probable that “they would follow the guidelines of just billing the consignee on the bill of lading, to make their lives easier”.
When asked if it was likely carriers would waive D&D charges during all the uncertainty, she laughed.
But he added that the main concern for US exporters was that “some China buyers have told them they will not be accepting shipments upon arrival”.
But advised: “If you haven’t sent anything yet, I guess the best way to mitigate it is to not send anything, if there are claims that they will refuse cargo and turn it away. Otherwise, I think we will see a lot of abandoned cargo. What else are they supposed to do?”
And she added: “That seems to be speculation for now though. They could re-export it back into the US or see if they can export it elsewhere. I suppose it depends on their business model, etc.
“I highly suspect we’re going to see a lot of companies buying out of countries other than China, and I can all but guarantee that if you looked hard enough, there’d be a Chinese buyer and company there. I am seeing a lot of talk about that on the import and the export side,” said Ms Dandan.
“As for how comfortable companies feel doing that, since laws and regulations vary according to country, I will leave up to them,” she concluded.
A recent breakthrough in the decades-long tariff dispute over DP World’s terminal operations at the Indian port of Nhava Sheva (JNPA) seems to have set off a reconfiguration of ocean carriers’ berthing windows in the harbour.
The stalemate had been a barrier to DP World Nhava Sheva optimising quayside capacity at the port, which handles a significant portion of India’s containerised export/import volumes.
With a settlement, the private concessionaire, the oldest at Nhava Sheva, has begun targeting more liner customers – and a terminal switch announced by the intra-Asia consortium, led by Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines, is proof of that push.
The South East Asia-India (SI8) service has terminated its fixed-day berthing slot deal with PSA International-operated Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) to move weekly calls to DP World’s Nhava Sheva India Gateway Terminal (NSIGT), “with immediate effect”, Wan Hai Lines India told customers.
The SI8 deploys four 3,000 teu ships, two from Wan Hai and one each from Korea Marine Transport Co (KMTC) and Interasia Lines, on a weekly rotation of Jakarta-Surabaya-Singapore-Port Klang-Mundra-Nhava Sheva-Port Klang-Jakarta.
The joint loop was launched in April 2024 to tap into the trade growth linked to diversifying Asian supply chains.
DP World has two marine facilities in Nhava Sheva, offering a combined capacity of a little over 2m teu annually: NSICT began operations in 1997, equipped with a 600-metre quay and 1.2m teu capacity; NSIGT went live in 2015.
The tariff settlement involving NSICT operations was a win-win outcome for both sides, as the port authority also needed terminal scalability to handle growing volumes and fend off any further loss of cargo to rival ports run by Adani Group due to space constraints.
“This settlement provides substantial benefits to the port, resolves a long-standing dispute, and sends a positive signal regarding the robustness and success of the PPP [public-private-partnership] model in India,” JNPA said.
“This is expected to significantly boost traffic at JNPA, generating higher revenues to the port from vessel-related charges, berth hire and royalties.”
At the centre of the dispute was a flawed government policy for terminal concessions, awarded in India’s nascent port privatisation era in the 1990s. As a result, older terminals were forced to scale back capacity within their committed throughput levels instead of maximising utilisation through efficiency.
Meanwhile, PSA has now begun handling vessels on BMCT’s extended Phase 2 wharf at Nhava Sheva, on a limited scale, adding 2.4m teu capacity for its operations once the entire 1,000-metre berth space is ready in the coming months.
That capacity consolidation could heat up competition among Nhava Sheva’s terminals as they woo carriers in a bid to retain and boost market share, industry sources believe.
JNPA saw fiscal year 2024-25 volumes climb 14% year on year, to 7.3m teu, an all-time high. Of this, DP World contributed 2.3m teu, but it could build on that with is now greater operational flexibility.
However, its hinterland connections remain an issue, as they have for other terminals in the port.
Over the past week, DP World Nhava Sheva had to face trucker pushback over long gate delays that vehicle owners claimed caused serious productivity setbacks and supply chain risks for cargo owners.
The terminal responded by promising “proactive efforts to keep the road queue under control”.
In 2024, Iranian ports processed a total of 2.96 million TEUs, marking a 13% increase compared to the previous year.
The nation's primary port, Shahid Rajaee in Bandar Abbas, saw a 12% container traffic growth, reaching 2.39 million TEUs. Meanwhile, Shahid Bohonar-Bandar Abbas' secondary port-doubled its throughput from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Indian-supported port of Chabahar also recorded substantial growth, with throughput surging 83% to 90,800 TEUS.
Asian exporters that withheld shipments due to US import tariffs were quick to backtrack today, after US president Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on the “Liberation Day” tariffs for all affected countries except China, which has been slapped with cumulative tariffs of 125%.
Forwarder contacts in the region told that shippers had been asking about booking container space before more changes in the US tariff policy. The pause means tariffs on imports from many countries are now at a baseline 10%.
South Korean forwarder LX Pantos told: “There is still some uncertainty in the market, because customers don’t know if Trump will change his mind again, but now that the tariffs are temporarily held off, we’ve been getting some calls from customers to resume shipments.”
South Korean exports were to be tariffed at 25% yesterday, and caretaker president Han Duck Soo said he would not retaliate, opting to engage Mr Trump in dialogue.
While the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements prompted some major shippers – notably Jaguar Land Rover in the UK – to put an immediate halt on US-bound shipments, many small- and medium-sized shippers had adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach, said forwarder Zencargo’s VP of growth and expansion, Michael Starr.
“A lot of our customers have been sitting tight and looking to store cargo in bonded warehouses or at origin until things have played out a bit,” he explained.
“There’s no doubt there’s a consumer confidence crisis in the US, and we expect to see a downturn in quarters three and four this year,” he added.
A source at Taiwanese forwarder Jumping Freight, whose customers are mainly computer hardware manufacturers, told that response to the moratorium on tariffs had been mixed.
“Our clients are still not making any shipments from their Chinese factories, because they are facing much higher tariffs now,” they said. “In fact, they have started operating their factories on shorter hours.
“Customers with local production are, however, asking us about booking freight, since the tariff is back at 10% for now,” they added.
Ye Zi Jing, deputy GM at Taiwanese forwarder Soonest Express, was quoted in local media as saying that customers that cancelled shipments this month began enquiring today about restarting exports.
“They told us not to give up and continue to find bonded warehouses,” she said. “They don’t know if the tariff policy could change tomorrow or later, but some manufacturers want to ensure they have sufficient inventory, so they’re moving first since the additional tariffs are stayed for now.”
However, Mr Starr also said warehouse capacity in China and elsewhere in Asia was limited.
“There’s not a whole bunch of container freight stations in China sitting empty, and the market won’t be able to store everything indefinitely – much will depend on what people are willing to pay to avoid the extra charges,” he said.
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Container spot freight rates on the main east-west trades diverged this week after a series of rate hikes held on the transpacific trades, but failed to arrest the continued declines seen on Asia-Europe sailings.
This week’s World Container Index (WCI) from Drewry saw both the Shanghai-Los Angeles and Shanghai-New York legs register week-on-week spot rate increases, while this week’s Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI), which records quoted rates, suggested that further pricing gains ought to be expected next week.
Notwithstanding the noise around US tariffs, this week’s WCI Shanghai-Los Angeles recorded spot rate increased 10% week on week, to reach $2,726 per 40ft, thus reversing uninterrupted rate declines seen on the route since 9 January, when it stood at $5,476 per 40ft
Meanwhile, the SCFI’s Shanghai-US west coast base port route increased 6% week on week, to today stand at $2,313 per 40ft – last week, the SCFI rate on the same route grew 16% week on week, while the WCI’s Shanghai-Los Angeles shed 6%, indicating the spread between the two indices can be extremely volatile.
The WCI’s Shanghai-New York’s spot rate increased 8% week on week, to $3,894 per 40ft – it too has been continually losing ground since the 9 January high point of $7,085 per 40ft.
This SCFI’s Shanghai-US east coast base port grew 8.5% to $2,580 per 40ft.
Drewry attributed this week’s rebounding rates to a combination of reduced capacity and 1 April general rate increases introduced by carriers.
“Rate stabilisation may be influenced by GRIs and MSC’s blanked sailings, though capacity adjustments vary across alliances.
“Of 57 planned cancellations [globally] over the next five weeks, 30 are on transpacific routes, with 15 from MSC and the Ocean Alliance, while Gemini has yet to announce any,” it explained.
Of course, demand has also remained strong from US importers keen to get goods into the country before new tariffs come into force, although that will likely have ramifications later, said Freightos head analyst Judah Levine.
“With the reciprocal tariffs not being applied to goods loaded before 9 April, we may see a very brief scramble that will push container rates and demand up for the next few days.
“After that though, many importers who’ve built up inventory are likely to be able to reduce or pause orders and shipments until the tariff dust settles.
“This move will see container volumes and rates drop, possibly significantly, soon and could be one factor that will cause a very subdued peak season period this year,” he explained.
One large UK forwarder told that some of its major shippers had “requested that all US-bound shipments on both transatlantic and transpacific be halted until they ask, ‘what the fuck’s going on’”.
Meanwhile, spot rates remained weak on the Asia-Europe trades with the WCI’s Shanghai-Rotterdam leg shedding 3% week on week, to end at $21,304 per 40ft, while the SCFI’s Shanghai-North Europe base port was essentially flat, at $2,672 per40ft.
The WCI’s Shanghai-Genoa leg was down 4% week on week, to $3,031 per 40ft and the SCFI reading for the route declined 2.5%, to $4,056 per 40ft.
Overcapacity on both trades appears to be a growing problem – while rates were always expected to decline post-Chinese New Year, the steepness of the descent has surprised analysts.
“Container freight rates have a strong seasonal tendency to weaken in the period following Chinese New Year. In 2025, however, the decline in spot rates is significantly more negative, than what can be explained by just seasonality,” said Sea-Intelligence Consulting chief executive Alan Murphy.
“This could be the result of an aggressive commercial price war between shipping lines, potentially due to the switch-over to the new alliances, a weakening of the supply/demand balance, or a combination of both,” he added.
According to its data, in the eight weeks since Chinese New Year, capacity on Asia-North Europe has grown 27% year on year.
“Especially for Asia-Europe, it is clear that a highly significant capacity growth is a key parameter in explaining the current spot rate weakness,” Mr Murphy said.
