Carriers are pushing ahead with their 1 November rate hikes after successfully holding on to their mid-October gains, buoyed by rising market sentiment as a US-China trade deal could be reached by this week. The US-China port fees are expected to be part of the package deal to be finalized when the leaders of both countries meet on 30 October. Port traffic in the US and China have not been materially impacted so far, with primarily COSCO’s ships in the US and Matson’s ships in China being the primary targets and only a small number of ship diversions in China over the past 2 weeks.
The removal of the twin disruptions of punitive tariffs against Chinese container imports and uncertainty over the port tariffs could work against carriers efforts to raise rates as the market enters the traditional slack season in November with carriers still slow in removing surplus capacity.
Johnson Leung
Containership orders not slowing down despite Net-Zero Framework delay
The vote to delay the Net-Zero Framework on 17 October 2025 reveals a deep split between IMO member states with the EU pushing the decarbonization agenda along with smaller island states that stand to gain the most from the NZF while the US and most of Asia were opposed to the adoption of carbon pricing on shipping. Countries that voted for the delay included the US, China and Russia along with other major oil exporting nations. Singapore was the only Asian country to vote against the motion to adjourn while Japan and South Korea abstained.
However, the delay will not affect the appetite for new containerships with fresh orders still emerging in the last 2 weeks and even more still to come in the coming weeks as carriers push ahead with their newbuilding plans with the orderbook ratio surpassing 33% for the first time since 2009.
Register Free Trial
Weekly/Monthly Market Pulse: US$1,500/US$1,800 per year