The Ocean Alliance cancelled 10 trans-Pacific cruises

It is reported that the Ocean Alliance announced plans to cancel 10 trans-Pacific voyages in March and April, as early signs of reduced container throughput have become a reality.

According to Alphaliner's data, the decision made by APL, CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen and OOCL will result in the cancellation of approximately 74,000 teu in the West Coast service and more than 35,000 teu in the East Coast service. So total approx 15% of their capacity have been cancelld.

Last Friday, according to the British industry media The Loadstar reported that the container freight rate in Asia to the United States fell sharply. The Shanghai Container Freight Index (SCFI) fell 10% on the west coast of the United States and 7% on the east coast.

A source said that in order to avoid the 25% tariff, the early shipment of goods has increased the weak demand for trans-Pacific trade. At the JOC TPM meeting in Long Beach this week, the source said: “BCOs told us that they are postponing contract negotiations with operators due to weaker freight rates.”

“Some BCOs have the view that there are ‘over the way’ for freight rates, so they don’t feel any pressure to sign a new deal.”

Last week, the US government again proposed to postpone the deadline for the 25% tariff increase on Chinese imports of about US$200 billion originally scheduled for March 2, saying that trade negotiations have made substantial progress.

But this uncertainty has led several shipping companies to worry about what will happen in the near future.