The Slowdown at Ports Is a Warning of Rough Economic Seas Ahead

10 billion dollars The container shipping industry, which removes the full boxes around the Global Sea and everything around, is known as “empty cellings”.

To understand the sound of the art, think of the world-bound sea-bend trade economy as a bus system, where several buses or ships are stopping a certain path. If the bus system is running – or the shipping company running if there is no need for enough passenger to run the route in the middle of their bus, they will cancel one of those circuits. The same with shipping companies: If they understand that any container ship is not booking enough to continue its standard route, the company will “blank” the boat, which will combine the products on the ship with travelers after weeks.

This is the general shipping stuff. But not this month. As the influence of President Donald Trump New tariffs on foreign goodsAnd and and They fight the ignited trade– Set, many shippers who usually send goods across the Pacific Ocean have breaks or canceled their invoices. Supply-chain research agency Fan The west coast of the United States has increased by 5 percent this week and will jump to the next 20 percent of the week. The country’s largest Los Angeles port expects 17 blank boats in MayWhich means the port will lose 224,000 “twenty -four feet equivalent units of power”, “the standard metric used to measure the contents of a container. Total, Shows the port of the portImport volumes will decrease by 31 percent next week compared to the same week of last year.

This means that a lot of staff is no longer coming in the United States – and especially those things in particular From ChinaThe This is an unusual part. “This is extremely extreme,” Simon Hanny, senior manager of the container research of the marine research and advisory agency, says. “It is unprecedented in the history of the controversy.” He said the blank vessels are “a primary canary in the coal miner. When you see the careers suspending services, it tells you that there is not enough demand [for goods]Or that fret rate is getting decreased very quickly. “

What does it mean for customers? At this point, the US government has said that it is discussing the level of tariff with many countries, including China, so the image of the container shipping may change rapidly with the signing or shattered of the agreement. However, at the moment, experts say some deficit has been baked ToysThe chances of being more expensive in the United States are very expensive, because less ships make it in the port and increase the deficit price.

Trump acknowledged as much as a cabinet meeting this week: “Perhaps the kids will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls and perhaps two more dolls will spend a few more money,” he said.

However, for more than a few weeks, even the global container shipping industry’s tea leaves and its “empty vessel” schedule cannot predict the global trade. Due to economic uncertainty, some of the blank ferries are currently recorded, Jean-Pal Rodrig, a professor of Maritime Business Administration, studying port activities at A&M-Galveston University, Texas. He says agencies and countries are delaying “the new games of the game they are delaying until they know. We are setting the board, we are turning the dice,” he says. “Rules have changed.” It means that if the deals are made, those products may return.