Spot rates from Asia to the US West Coast climbed to $8,400 per FEU this past week — the highest level recorded this year — as blank sailings, port delays and carrier allocation controls kept trans-Pacific pricing elevated well past the traditional peak season.

East Coast spot rates held at roughly $9,600 per FEU, about $200 below their late-August peak, according to market data from Freightos (NASDAQ: CRGO), a SONAR data contributor.

The rate strength comes as Washington and Beijing agreed to extend their trade truce by two months, a deal reached last week at a Washington meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The truce, which had been due to expire Nov. 10, now includes reduced tariffs on selected imports and plans for two additional leader-level meetings before year-end.

Port fee deferral likely

The U.S. Trade Representative had not formally announced a deferral of port-call fees targeting China-linked vessels as of this week. But the broader deescalation makes a delay more likely, Freightos said. Those fees had emerged as a potentially significant new cost and operational consideration for carriers deploying Chinese-built or Chinese-operated tonnage into U.S. trades.

For carriers and importers, the truce extension offers a temporary measure of policy certainty heading into the year-end shipping and retail cycle — removing, at least for now, the threat of another sharp trade-policy escalation.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments around the summit suggest the short duration of the extension reflects unresolved Chinese commitments to buy U.S. agricultural products. China's progress on those purchases could set the stage for another extension, Freightos noted.

$30 billion in tariff relief

Washington and Beijing will reduce tariffs on about $30 billion in counterpart imports to most-favored-nation levels, subject to required legal procedures. The changes cover nearly 80 U.S. product entries, with toys the biggest category by value — a move some analysts read as an attempt by the Trump administration to shore up support with holiday-shopping voters ahead of the midterm elections. China's list includes more than 1,600 entries, concentrated largely in agricultural products and commodities.

The relief is modest against more than $400 billion in annual China-U.S. trade, but it should deliver some benefit for importers, retailers and consumers of the affected products.

Supply-side squeeze, not demand, drives rates

Trans-Pacific container prices climbed again despite expectations that demand would ease after China's Golden Week holiday and the peak-season period. The persistence of high pricing reflects a capacity market shaped by blank sailings, port delays and allocation controls rather than demand alone, Freightos noted. Carriers have expanded blanked sailings through the holiday period and into late October, and some have reportedly reduced allocations to contracted forwarders — a squeeze that leaves forwarders with thinner guaranteed space heading into the winter booking cycle.

Far East congestion compounds the constraint. Sea-Intelligence estimates port delays are absorbing more than 8% of global vessel capacity and could take as long as 10 months to fully unwind. That constraint, along with higher bunker costs tied to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, could establish a firmer floor under container rates even during periods of weaker seasonal demand.

The effect could be especially visible ahead of Lunar New Year, when a higher rate baseline would give carriers more room to push prices upward if bookings accelerate.

Panama Canal eases restrictions

Improved rainfall and water levels are providing a partial offset for shippers routing Asia–U.S. East Coast cargo through the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal Authority plans to restore daily Neopanamax transits to the normal level of 10 and raise the maximum authorized draft to 49 feet in mid-October. The move reverses restrictions imposed in late August, when the authority removed one daily transit slot and cut allowable draft by one foot.

The improvement reduces the immediate risk of additional diversions, delays and higher costs for Asia–East Coast cargo. But it may not hold: an expected El Niño pattern could still weaken rainfall during the wet season, which usually runs into January, potentially forcing new operating restrictions in the months ahead.

Asia–Europe rates slide

Europe-bound spot rates continued to fall as demand softened and carriers gradually restored effective capacity through increased Red Sea transits. Rates from Asia to North Europe dropped 9% to about $3,400 per FEU, while Asia–Mediterranean pricing declined 7% to $3,600 per FEU. Even so, several carriers are pursuing late-October general rate increases — a clear signal that lines intend to slow the market's downward drift.

For shippers, the picture is split: European importers regain some negotiating leverage as capacity returns, while trans-Pacific importers face historically strong autumn pricing with limited relief in sight. With the truce clock set to expire in January and El Niño risks looming over Panama, the January expiry of the trade agreement and the Lunar New Year cargo surge look set to converge on carrier pricing power.