Market Update

Tariffs:-
— An Executive Order has put new country-specific reciprocal tariffs into effect. As reported by Freightwaves, the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to a 90-day extension to allow trade discussions to continue. The U.S. and China reached a similar deal, moving the expiration of their existing agreement from August 12th, to 12:01am EST on November 10th.

— The Trump Administration has talked about rolling out industry-specific tariffs to complement the existing country-by-country measures. Some include graphite imports, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals.

Schedule reliability: In June, schedule reliability rose 1.6% from the previous month, reaching 67.4% overall. Compared to the same month last year, reliability was up 12.8%. Maersk led the pack at 81% reliability, with Hapag-Lloyd close behind at 76.5%.

U.S. Port Volumes: Major ports along all coasts in the U.S. saw increases during the month of July. According to Descartes July Global Shipping Report, the Port of Long Beach posted a month-over-month gain of 24.1%, while Los Angeles saw an increase of 18%. On the East Coast, New York/New Jersey saw a gain of 14.7% while Norfolk and Charleston increased by 12%, each. Finally, on the Gulf Coast, Houston saw a gain of 34.2%.

Freight News: Is Import Demand Dropping?

U.S. import demand has shown uneven trends in recent months as shippers navigate ongoing tariff uncertainty. Many importers accelerated order earlier in the year to get ahead of potential cost increases, inflating short-term volumes.

That surge has since tapered off, with several sectors, including consumer electronics and certain industrial goods, scaling back shipments until trade policy stabilizes. At the same time, some retailers are still front-loading seasonal inventory, keeping volumes elevated in select lanes. The result is a stop-and-go import market where timing and commodity mix are being shaped as much as policy headlines as by underlying demand.

What the data is showing…

According to Descartes July Global Shipping Report, U.S. container imports increased to 2,621,910 TEUs, which is an 18.2% increase from June and a 2.6% increase from July of last year. Descartes credits this growth to a strong response to various trade policies and seasonal demand.

Seaway Bill Vs. Bill of Lading

Seaway Bills are a document used in place of Bills of Lading during the shipping process when transporting cargo via sea. 

Bills of Lading are served for three purposes: title of the goods, contract of carriage, and the transfer of cargo ownership.

The main difference is Seaway Bills only serve two purposes: title of goods and contract of carriage. 

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