In a recent issue of Sea‑Intelligence Sunday Spotlight, analysts looked at ship deployment data on the Transpacific and Transatlantic trade lanes to see if carriers are reducing their use of Chinese‑built vessels ahead of new US Trade Representative (USTR) fees set to start on 14 October 2025.
The upcoming regulation will impose fees on Chinese‑built vessels calling at US ports unless they meet exemptions (voyages under 2,000 nautical miles or ships under 4,000 TEU).
Chinese carriers like COSCO and OOCL will also pay fees regardless of where their ships are built.
To assess shifts, the team tracked which vessels served which routes each week in 2025, mapped them to their shipyard origin, and applied a three‑week rolling average to the share of Chinese‑built vessels—this smooths out short‑term spikes and reveals underlying trends.
READ: Asia-US freight rates fall further amid tariff disruption
On the Transpacific trade, early signs of change are appearing. In the Asia‑to‑North America West Coast route, the share of Chinese‑built ships has dropped from around 25‑30 per cent in early 2025 to 20‑25 per cent in recent weeks.
The East Coast route shows a similar but milder decline.
By contrast, the Transatlantic trade shows no clear shift yet.
Services from North Europe and the Mediterranean to North America still deploy a similar proportion of Chinese‑built vessels, and individual redeployments haven’t yet made a noticeable statistical impact.
Last month, shipping lines were expected to increase blank sailings around China’s Golden Week in 2025, as announced capacity reductions on key trade routes remained significantly below historical averages.
MITSUI E&S Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary, PACECO CORP., have received an order from marine
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has officially launched the concessionaire selection process for its new
APM Terminals (APMT) Mexico has announced a phased 19-year, $160 million modernisation plan for its
Inland Terminals Group (ITG), Zero Emission Services (ZES) and Nedcargo are launching fully emission-free container
Associated British Ports (ABP) is celebrating the success of ‘TURBO-METH’, a clean technology project which
