Since mid-October, reciprocal port fees had been introduced by both the United States and China aimed at each other’s linked vessels. A fortnight later, these have been suspended for a year after President Trump and Premier Xi met and agreed to pause these charges for a year whilst they continue to negotiate. They also agreed other tariff changes between each other which should give more confidence to exporters to continue trading between the two countries. We shall have to see in coming weeks what effect these changes have on the liner market, but one would expect that this will give support to all rates and perhaps increases may be seen as shippers start moving containers in greater volumes.

The main FBX liner routes ex Far East have been fairly flat this week, but are all up on the start of the month as follows FBX01 (China/East Asia – USA West Coast) up $477, FBX03 (China/East Asia – USA East Coast) up $345, FBX11 (China/East Asia – North Europe) up by $422 and FBX13 (China/East Asia – Mediterranean) up by $190 since the start of the month.