Container Volumes Crater as Carriers Slash Sailings: April 25 Update on Transpacific Cuts and Trade Shifts
Container carriers have slashed thousands of TEUs from the Asia–U.S. trade in a matter of weeks, as blank sailings reach levels not seen since early pandemic disruption. With U.S. importers curbing purchase orders and tariff policy fueling sourcing shifts, shippers are facing a sharp contraction in ocean capacity — and a wake-up call for operational overhaul.
What Is a Blank Sailing?
A Blank Sailing, also known as a void sailing, is a sailing that has been canceled by the carrier. This means that a particular sailing of a vessel, and possibly even a whole string of scheduled port calls, will not take place as planned. This can happen for various reasons, such as vessel maintenance, low cargo volumes, or network realignment.
Blank sailings reduce available shipping capacity, affect transit times, and often lead to congestion at alternative ports. They are typically announced with short notice and can significantly disrupt supply chains that rely on regular, predictable carrier schedules.
Blank Sailings April 2025: By the Numbers and Booking Shifts
Sea-Intelligence reports:
- 28% drop in expected container volume on Asia–U.S. lanes in week 18
- 42% drop forecast for Asia–East Coast trade in week 19
Port of Los Angeles forecast:
- 14% month-over-month volume decline for week 18
- 38.6% drop in week 19
- 43% year-over-year decline expected in early May
Booking data (Vizion x Dun & Bradstreet) since March 31:
- China bookings down 37%
- Vietnam and Cambodia bookings up 10%
Retailer and import outlooks (NRF & Flexport):
- Q2 import volumes projected down 20–23% YoY
- No rebound expected before late Q3, pending tariff policy
What’s Causing the Collapse in Container Demand?
1. Tariffs Force Sourcing Realignment
- Chinese goods now face up to 145% duties, forcing U.S. importers to pause or cancel orders.
- Vietnam and Cambodia benefit from a temporary 90-day 10% tariff cap, triggering sourcing reallocation.
2. Inventory Overstock Stalls Orders
- Many U.S. retailers are carrying 3.5 to 4 months of inventory.
- Ordering has slowed across key verticals including apparel, furniture, and electronics.
3. Muted Forward-Looking Demand
- According to JOC and Flexport, carriers and importers are seeing continued booking softness into July.
- Trade policy uncertainty is deterring volume commitments.
Carrier Blank Sailings and Capacity Cuts: April 2025 Update
Evergreen Marine (Ocean Alliance)
- Canceled HBB service sailings to Los Angeles and Oakland for 4 straight weeks.
- Removed 8,000 to 12,000 TEUs/week of capacity.
COSCO Shipping
- Bohai Service: Cancelled China–Long Beach sailing in early May, cutting ~10,000 TEUs.
- Additional blank sailings across Hibiscus Express and Yangtze Service expected.
OOCL / COSCO
- Cosco Thailand (8,500 TEU) and OOCL Utah (8,800 TEU) pulled from service.
- Pacific South China Express now running only once per month.
Other Alliances and Carriers
- Maersk and MSC are consolidating USEC loops and skipping lower-volume Chinese ports.
- Forwarders confirm reduced visibility, longer lead times, and less schedule reliability.
How Shippers Can Respond: Building Resilience in a Volatile Market
As blank sailings become a weekly reality, logistics teams must shift away from static planning toward systems designed for volatility. This is not theory — it’s table stakes for cost control and fulfillment integrity.
Here’s what top-performing supply chains are doing now:
1. Automate Blank Sailing Alerts and Rebookings
- Avoid manual schedule checks.
- Use platforms with live carrier API connections to get notified and reroute instantly.
2. Intelligently Audit Freight Invoices
- Blank sailings often trigger hidden surcharges (rerouting, drayage, transshipment).
- Use automation to flag charges tied to carrier non-performance.
3. Pre-Model Sourcing Alternatives
- Run what-if scenarios using updated tariff + freight inputs.
- Build a fallback network in Southeast Asia where bookings remain strong.
4. Rethink Inventory Strategy
- Align stock levels with available ocean capacity, not just sales cycles.
- Some importers are staging inventory in bonded warehouses to hedge against tariffs.
Looking Ahead: No Snapback in Sight
When volumes dipped sharply in early 2020 (COVID), they roared back on the heels of e-commerce demand and stimulus. This time, the signals are different. Carriers behavior suggest no expectation of short-term recovery.
Container lines are blanking sailings not to patch over slack demand, but to strategically reshape capacity in a tariff-fragmented, overstocked market.
For logistics and supply chain teams, we know this means Ports congestions whether you need to return an empty container - OR need to export one. And this will affect you with D&D fees as well. This is the moment to replace manual processes with proactive, data-informed systems.
Shippers who invest now will be the ones who stay operational when the next layer of volatility hits.
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