Tariffs: Fewer ships, fewer containers at the Port of Oakland

Yahoo

13-05-2025

OAKLAND, Calif. - While the Trump administration works to hammer out a deal with China, the tariffs already in place are having a visible impact on our ports, and it's not just fewer container ships.
Not only is there reduced traffic, the container ships that arrive often have fewer containers on board.
The Port of Oakland operates around the clock, with ships coming and going all day and all night.
Truckers who haul cargo say there's been a noticeable decrease in traffic since the tariffs went into place.
"It's been kind of mid," said trucker Wayne Waldon. "Some days it's been busy. Mostly it hasn't. So, you know, that could be partially due to the tariffs and everything slowing it down."
Before the tariffs, cargo ships would pull into port stacked high. Now longshoremen say they're seeing fewer containers. "Boxes can go down forever in the ship," said Steven Parker from ILWU Local #10. "But, now we're seeing that the ships are coming in, they're like skeleton ships. There are not a lot of containers on the ships, and we're used to seeing hundreds and hundreds of containers."
The smaller loads and fewer ships have left some junior longshoremen scrambling for work. "I believe in April it was 14 ships that were canceled from China," said Parker. "May, 15 so far. Oh yeah it has really, really cost us here."
Now the Trump administration has announced that the U.S. and China have reached an agreement to pause the tariffs for 90 days, lowering U.S. Tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% and lowering tariffs on goods flowing from the U.S. To China from 125% to 10%.
"But more importantly it leads us in a constructive path forward to, to have a positive conversation with the Chinese," said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Longshoremen anticipate that suppliers will stockpile in this three-month window. They said that it takes nine to 10 days to make it from China to the Port of Oakland. So, they're expecting businesses to already be putting in orders to take advantage of the pause, meaning full ships by the end of the month.
"I'm sure they're loading up those ships now," said Parker. "So, I believe in the next week or two we're going to start seeing a difference in the economy, difference in the ships that are coming in. So, I'd say in a couple weeks we're going to start seeing a big difference in what's happening."
What's next
Consumers can expect to see ripple effects from the on-again-off-again tariffs. Experts are saying the high tariffs will likely impact the fall shopping season, just in time for back to school. But this pause should mean that imports will be in place in time for the holidays.