Shippers in Asia restart ocean shipment bookings – but not from China
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.
