Xeneta recommends shippers to prepare for chaotic, unpredictable 2025

During the election campaign, Trump vowed 60-per cent tariffs on all imports from China and up to 20 per cent from the rest of the world.

The fact only China, Mexico and Canada are within scope of Trump’s first round of tariffs means shippers who frontloaded imports from any other nation following his election victory may have wasted time and money, Xeneta noted.

They may have needlessly moved containers on the elevated spot market if they exceed minimum quantity commitments (MQC), while bloated inventories increase warehouse costs and take up working capital, the Norway-based ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform said in a release.

As Trump will make further announcements on tariffs, and they could impact any category of goods or region in the world, so shippers must be ready to act decisively if they want to frontload imports while avoiding unnecessary freight spend, it said.

If a shipper is against the clock to import goods before tariffs come into effect, understanding actual transit times to choose the right carrier for their trade lanes is vital, or else they risk incurring the substantial cost of frontloading but see their goods arrive in the United States too late to benefit from it, it said.

Average spot rates on major front-haul trades are an important barometer for the market—and numerous ocean freight rate indexes offer this—but, in isolation, they do not provide the depth and breadth of data required to effectively manage freight spend and supply chain risk in this scenario.

A shipper may look at average spot rates on their trade and be willing to pay a higher rate to ship goods if a carrier’s announced transit time ensures the container arrives in the United States before tariffs come into effect, Xeneta suggested.

Given the heightened geopolitical tension globally, there is also the risk of further, as-yet-unknown, disruptions emerging that threaten supply chains.

“Average spot rates will only take you so far in understanding how to manage these threats. You must have visibility at a port-to-port level on the different rates carriers are offering across long and short term markets as well transit times, schedule reliability and capacity,” Xeneta added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)