Ocean carriers are bringing suspended container services back to the trans-Pacific next month due to heavy import demand from China. Even so, capacity remains tight in the near term as some ships that once served the trans-Pacific have been redeployed to other lanes.
President Donald Trump's temporary reprieve on reciprocal tariffs against China has meant the resumption of previously canceled ocean freight bookings, as well as likely frontloading of imports during the 90-day reprieve period, which ends Aug. 14.
That means container capacity from China is“tight”through the first week of July, Hong Kong-based logistics provider Honour Lane Shipping said in its most recent trans-Pacific market update, adding that cargo may likely be rolled to later voyages due to space constraints.
“All carriers are facing serious space shortages as they've cut a large percentage of their capacities by service suspension and blank sailings in the previous two months,”Honour Lane said.“Most vessels are very full by the end of the month, and many of them have overbooking.”
Zim Integrated Shipping Service was one of the first out of the gate to announce it will restart an express service from China to the Port of Los Angeles, and now other carriers are following suit.
After a slate of blank sailings, Mediterranean Shipping Co. is resuming regular weekly sailings on its Orient service between China and the Port of Long Beach starting with the June 9 departure from Shanghai of the 8,500-TEU MSC Tianshan, according to MSC's vessel schedule.
The Premier Alliance also appears to be planning a restart of its PS5 service from China to the ports of Long Beach and Oakland. Alliance member Ocean Network Express (ONE) shows four vessels already nominated to the string, with the first voyage from Qingdao on June 6 on the 6,589-TEU YM Mobility. The resumption of the PS5, originally planned for May, was delayed due to the downturn in import demand.
‘Takes time to resume services’
Other carriers, though, may find it more difficult to bring trans-Pacific capacity back quickly because they have repositioned ships into other trades outside of the region, Honour Lane's report said.
“Despite the demand spikes, carriers have yet to return capacity to China,”Honour Lane said.“It takes time to resume services or cancel blank sailings which have been announced months ago.”
Cosco Shipping's AAC4 service from central China to Long Beach went to a biweekly schedule, instead of weekly, through May due to the post-tariff demand downturn. While the service is set to resume weekly voyages in June, Cosco redeployed two vessels in the AAC4 service to other markets.
The 14,568-TEU Cosco Shipping Alps, which had called Long Beach regularly since 2023 as part of the AAC4 service, is now destined for the Port of Rotterdam with a May 24 estimated arrival, according to data from Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global. Likewise, the 13,386-TEU Cosco Portugal, which had been in the AAC4 rotation since 2021, is also scheduled to call Rotterdam in June.
Evergreen Marine may also have to reposition ships to the trans-Pacific to meet the renewed demand. After its CPS service to Los Angeles blanked five weekly voyages through April and May, two vessels in that service went to other trades.
Evergreen's 11,888-TEU Ever Fame had been in the rotation for the carrier's CPS service since this year, port call data shows. However, since the CPS started blanking its weekly calls, the Ever Fame is now en route to Rio De Janeiro as part of Evergreen's Far East-South America service.
The 12,118-TEU Ever Frank, which was also put into the CPS rotation at the start of 2025, is now en route to Southampton, England, as part of Evergreen's China-Europe Shuttle service.
Evergreen is now looking to backfill capacity in the wake of the schedule changes. The carrier scheduled two ad hoc calls to Los Angeles in May on its Asia-Northwest Pacific service. Evergreen's HTW service also made ad hoc calls to Shanghai and Ningbo after service from those ports was curtailed.
Other Ocean Alliance members are resuming regular trans-Pacific services. CMA CGM's Pearl River Express service to Los Angeles, which canceled nearly all its sailings from April through May, plans to return to a regular weekly cadence in June, as does OOCL's Pacific South China Express service.
Cosco Shipping is set to deploy two extra loaders from China to Long Beach this week to handle the sudden demand surge, but it's“not sure whether it would be enough to mitigate the short supply,” Honour Lane said in its advisory.