Maersk says it has maintained all trans-Pacific sailings despite tariff, trade uncertainty

By Louise Rasmussen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Maersk said on Tuesday it had maintained all its scheduled trans-Pacific sailings to date, albeit downsising some vessels, despite the uncertainty caused by U.S. import tariffs and the trade war between the United States and China.

German container carrier Hapag-Lloyd last week said that its customers had cancelled 30% of shipments to the United States from China, spooked by the trade conflict between the world's two largest economies.

Maersk said its customers with shipments out of China to the United States were taking different approaches to deal with the uncertainty.

"Some continue as planned, others look to ship to or from other markets while a third category choose to postpone shipments storing them at origin in anticipation of a future resolution to the situation," the company said in a statement.

However, the company added that it would continue to assess the situation and align with demand on its services between China and the U.S., including continuing the practice of replacing larger vessels with smaller ones.

The Trump administration's current policy includes blanket tariffs of 10% on goods from most countries and 145% import duties products from China. China and other countries have hit back with tariffs on U.S. goods.

However, the world's two largest economies in recent days seem to have softened their respective stances, with Washington signalling openness to reducing tariffs and Beijing exempting some U.S. imports from its 125% levies.

(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen)