The Southeast Asia to U.S. trade has seen a sharp uptick in container capacity as consumer goods demand across the nation remains strong.
U.S. goods shipments from Vietnam, the leading country in Southeast Asia the U.S. imports goods from, have been surging in recent years thanks to cheaper labor in Vietnam than in China, U.S.-China trade tariffs, and now, strong consumer demand in the U.S., which has been further boosted by U.S. government stimulus money.
U.S. goods imports from Vietnam totaled $79.6 billion in 2020, up from $66.6 billion in 2019 and $49.2 billion in 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau trade data.
In January alone, U.S. goods imports from Vietnam totaled $7.7 billion, up from $6.1 billion in January 2020, $5.4 billion in January 2019 and $4.0 billion in January 2018.
Weekly allocated container capacity on the Southeast Asia to U.S. trade has nearly doubled over the last four years, from 39,558 TEUs in March 2017 to 77,380 TEUs in March 2021, according to data from BlueWater Reporting’s Capacity Report.
THE Alliance, with member ONE in particular, has a substantial market share on the Southeast Asia to U.S. trade.
Data from BlueWater Reporting’s Capacity Report also shows the OCEAN Alliance’s JAX-CJX allocates the most capacity each week on the Southeast Asia to U.S. trade at 12,798 TEUs. However, the next four leading services on the trade are all operated by THE Alliance.
Broken down by carrier, THE Alliance member ONE allocates the most capacity on the trade each week at 20,177 TEUs, according to BlueWater Reporting’s Carrier/Trade Route Deployment Report.
