Upon the announcement of new U.S. tariffs in early April, global maritime trade began contracting almost immediately as cargo routes rapidly shifted course in the face of shifting cost calculations, according to Dun & Bradstreet Shipping Insights data.
In fact, global container bookings dropped 2.8% from January through April year-over-year, driven by a 7.6% drop in April bookings. A 9% increase in U.S. imports in February and March, likely due to stockpiling in anticipation of tariff increases, was not enough to offset a 13.3% drop in U.S. imports in April.
“It’s incredibly difficult for businesses to plan with confidence,” says Dun & Bradstreet economist Grant Hixon. “Firms are now re-routing supply chains in real time to mitigate risk, but these shifts bring their own complications — high logistical costs, new compliance requirements, and operational disruptions. On the analytical side, pass-through effects are hard to trace. Tariffs may increase costs, but those costs are absorbed unevenly across suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers.”
“Supply chain risk continues to be top-of-mind for businesses of all sizes, and Dun & Bradstreet’s complimentary supply chain evaluation offering addresses the urgent needs of business leaders to better understand potential impacts to their supplier network,” says Brian Filanowski, general manager, finance and risk solutions.
Dun & Bradstreet
Key takeaways:
· Bookings from China to the United States dropped 36.4% in April. However, that decrease is less pronounced than cyclical drops in U.S.-bound bookings typically seen during Chinese holidays. The Dun & Bradstreet data also shows a bump in China-to-U.S. bookings at the end of April.
· The West Coast is expected to feel the lagging effects of decreased import volumes first due to the higher percentage of Chinese goods traveling through these ports and their proximity to China. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., saw a 34.6% drop in import bookings from China year-over-year in April.
· The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., saw a 32.3% drop in import bookings from China in April compared to April 2024, driving a 14.4% drop in overall import bookings that month.
· Significant frontloading was seen in imports of toys, games, sports equipment, and electronics to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., while non-knitted clothing saw a collapse in volume from China and a relative lack of growth from other exporters.
· Meanwhile, U.S. exports increased 4.1% in April year-over-year. That month, U.S. export bookings to Vietnam rose 65% year-over-year; U.S. bookings to Thailand rose 60.8%; and U.S. bookings to India rose 12.8% vs, a year ago. U.S. exports also saw increased year-over-year bookings in April in categories such as cotton (63.9% increase), vehicles and vehicle parts (22.8% increase), cereals (41% increase), and iron and steel (24.5% increase).
