THE container shipping industry's largest players are foreign owned but the US presidential election could have an impact on ocean carriers and the ports they favour, reports Massachusetts Sourcing Journal.

A recent analysis from London's Drewry Maritime Research said a victory for Donald Trump "carries more disruptive risk for the container shipping market based on past performance", noting that a trade war escalation is much more likely under a second Trump administration.



If elected, Mr Trump is expected to impose universal tariffs of 20 per cent on all US imports, while China-made goods could get slapped with a 60 per cent tariff.



"Such levies would ultimately be paid by US consumers, inevitably dampening overall demand for containerized imports and especially those from China," said Drewry analyst Simon Heaney.



Freight rates could see another uptick after escalating in 2024. Data from Xeneta's Shipping Index indicated that average spot freight rates out of China to the US West Coast doubled from $1,340 per FEU on June 29, 2018 - shortly ahead of the tariffs former President Trump first introduced in July that year - to $2,692 per container on November 1. These numbers did decline to $1,679 per container by January 2, 2019, but were still 25 per cent ahead of the late June prices.



Throughout his presidential campaign, Mr Trump has stated that the proposed tariffs would not result in price hikes.



While Mr Heaney identified Mr Trump's proposed tariff hikes as "extreme", he acknowledged that both he and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris both have "protectionist tendencies."



"Kamala Harris has derided Trump's tariff plans as a national sales tax, but that doesn't mean she would roll back on existing tariffs if she won," Mr Heaney said.



"Instead of new tariffs, we'd expect a Harris administration to introduce more subsidies to boost US industry and exports which will be of concern to other nations and trading blocks," he said.