The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), representing the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, is beginning to see tangible impacts from recent tariff implementations and unpredictable trade policy decisions originating from the White House. Officials held a meeting to discuss the expected impact on port numbers, highlighting recent volume drops and voicing concerns about the ripple effects across the regional economy.

Westside Seattle took part in an online conference with members of the NWSA on Friday morning.

"We understand that the public is anxious on the potential impacts of the tariffs and the rapid and unpredictable fluctuations and the major policy trade decisions happening at the White House," stated Toshiko Hasegawa, President of the Port of Seattle Commission and co-chair of the Northwest Seaport Alliance. She emphasized the port's commitment to providing data to alleviate uncertainty and addressing public concerns about "higher prices or fewer options at the store or small businesses measuring whether or not they can stay open due to the climbing costs to be able to operate businesses".

While March and April saw higher volumes year-over-year compared to 2024, a significant shift occurred in May. The week of May 5th through 9th was the "first week demonstrating those concerns that we've been highlighting since the tariffs were implemented". Compared to the week prior, the port saw a 30% drop in international import volumes, which is also down 23% compared to the weekly average for the whole year. Vessel lifts, encompassing empties, imports, and exports, were down almost 21% compared to the 2025 average, and truck trips decreased for the second consecutive week, down 11.2% compared to the weekly average for 2025.

Commissioner John McCarthy, President of the Port of Tacoma Commission and co-chair, noted that April's numbers reflected a continuation of shippers bringing orders forward in advance of the April 9th tariff increases. However, the transit time from Asia (typically 2-4 weeks, longer from Vietnam) means vessels arriving in April had often left before the announcement.

China remains the port's largest trading partner, accounting for about 40% of imports and 52% of exports. Asia overall represents 91% of the port's trade. Given this context, officials acknowledged the significant impact of potential drops in trade with China. McCarthy pointed out that while some reports including a recent one from CNBC indicated sharp drops in vessel arrivals from China, the port's internal assessment suggested the reported figures didn't sound "quite accurate".

Beyond container volumes, other sectors are also feeling the pinch. In Tacoma, which handles a large volume of autos (importing about 330,000 last year), significant decreases have been observed in break bulk and autos. McCarthy explained, "At the higher price point, these markets are more sensitive to price fluctuations. High interest rates and the higher tariff rate for autos have indeed dampened these markets all year and sales for autos as well as agriculture, mining and construction equipment are slowed as as a result". Concerns also persist for small and medium-sized businesses, who find it hard to calculate the impact but are forced to "absorb these major fluctuations and the costs that will be incurred as a result of the continued 30% approximate tariffs".

The impact on jobs is a primary concern. Jeff Bellerud, Chief Operations Officer, highlighted that blank sailings, that is when a scheduled vessel cancels its call, have a significant impact. "These blank sailings are the big hit," he stated, explaining that a vessel typically carries 2,000 to 4,000 containers. "That's 2 to 4,000 truck moves that aren't happening. That's 2 to 4,000 longshore moves that aren't happening on the waterfronts. That translates to the warehouses". While a precise dollar or one-to-one figure is difficult to provide, Bellerud estimated that a 30% volume drop in a given week translates to "a 30% drop give or take to that longshore workforce," but the disruption effects are greater, extending into the wider economy.

Don Esterbrook, Deputy Executive Director leading the Commercial and Operations groups, added that they expect 17 blank sailings through May and June, compared to 12 during the same period last year. McCarthy relayed a conversation with the president of the Longshore Local in Seattle, whose early estimate for working hours was a 20% reduction.

The job impacts extend beyond the docks. Steve Balaski, Director of Business Development, shared an example of a warehouse company in the Kent area that handles product from China. Due to the pause in shipping, the company was forced to reduce operations from seven days a week, handling 50-70 containers per shift, to just Tuesday to Friday, handling 20-35 containers per shift. They estimated this negatively impacts more than 100 workers in Pierce County, plus support services like trucking. A Seattle-based trucking company owner told Commissioner Hasegawa that "his drivers are moving over to drive Ubers as they don't have car to pick up at our ports". Warehouses are also considering reduced hours or closures during downturns.

Officials stressed that the ripple effects include "higher prices, inflation, businesses being able to put together a business plan, fewer options at the store, and about how expensive things are going to be for our consumers". Commissioner Hasegawa described the policy environment as "destabilizing," stating, "What our communities need and what we need as a port is to be able to plan and that requires certainty".

The disruption is also manifesting as significant uncertainty within the industry. McCarthy described attending a recent peak season rally with industry stakeholders where there was "a lot of fear, a lot of uncertainty". This is particularly problematic as the industry "requires on timing and certainty", especially during the peak season cycle where orders are placed in May for Thanksgiving delivery. Steve Bolaski echoed this, stating the main concern is "the uncertainty because things are changing more frequently than than they're used to". This leads to a "classic bullwhip effect" of volume downturns followed by potential surges, making it "very difficult to plan labor to to make sure we have enough labor to plan asset utilization".

Regarding the outlook, McCarthy cautioned against assumptions of optimism, stating, "I wouldn't say that we could say that" about short-term disruption and optimistic longer term. He referenced an industry head suggesting effects could take years to recover. "It's too early in the game to make a statement like that".

Despite the immediate challenges, port officials noted some positive signs and preparations for the future. They are "not seeing much in the way of any blank sailings for the tail end of June and into July, which is really good news". In fact, they anticipate "a return of cargo to some level of normalcy and in fact we're preparing, for the potential anyway, of a cargo surge". Railroad partners, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern, are already "pre-staging rail cars in our gateway and around the surrounding areas to be able to handle an import surge this summer". Bellerud described this as "impressive" and an example of being "proactive rather than reactive" to drive best-in-class service.

However, the uncertainty persists, particularly surrounding the expiration of the current 90-day pause in tariffs on August 14th. As Balaski noted, "shippers are looking to get cargo in just as a risk mitigation and then after that you know again we don't know... that's that's the uncertainty part is we could see things continue on or we could see things fall off". This lack of predictability "just makes it hard for the whole supply chain to to plan effectively".

The meeting concluded with officials highlighting the ongoing monitoring of the situation and the release of weekly reports detailing cargo volumes.

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The Northwest Seaport Alliance (Seattle + Tacoma) 

Weekly Volumes & Metrics Report 5/19/25 

Overview 

For the week of 5/5 to 5/9 international imports slowed significantly, 30% lower compared to the previous week. International imports are also down almost 23% compared to our weekly average for the year. The week of 5/9 also reflected the first void of one of the largest NWSA service calls that has reduced their schedule from a weekly to a bi-weekly.  

Vessels now calling our gateway had left China or other Asian ports 2 to 4 weeks ago when tariffs were at their highest. We expect this downward trend to continue for the next few weeks as vessels that were loaded and departed after the April 9 announcements reach the NWSA. 

You can find last week’s report here. You can find the full vessel schedule, including the 4 week look ahead and breakdown by harbor, here. 

Media Availability

The NWSA will begin to host monthly media availability, with the first one being scheduled for Friday, May 23 @ 10AM. Meeting details will be distributed to this list later in the week. Please reach out to knolan@nwseaportalliance.com with any questions.

Vessel Calls 

*Void (or blank) sailings are when a regularly scheduled service skips our port.  

Week Ending April 25 – 13 Voyages (2 Void Sailings) 

Week Ending May 2 - 13 voyages (1 Void Sailing) 

Week Ending May 9 – 12 Voyages (1 Void Sailing) 

Week Ending May 16 – 12 Voyages (2 Void Sailings) 

Week Ending May 23 – 13 Voyages (1 Void Sailing) 

Weekly International Import Containers 

Week Ending May 9 – 10,577 containers imported  

-22.9% vs 2025 YTD Average (13,710)  

-22.2% vs 2024 Weekly Average (13,592)  

-10.7% vs April 2024 Weekly Average (11,850) 

 

Weekly Truck Transactions (Containers In/Out of Terminal via Truck) 

Week Ending May 9 – 22,521 truck transactions  

-11.2% vs 2025 YTD Average (25,371)  

-12.7% vs April 2024 (25,787)   

Weekly Vessel Lifts (Containers On/Off a Vessel) 

Week Ending May 9 – 22,815  

-20.8% vs 2025 YTD Average (28,814)  

-12.8% vs April 2024 (26,158)  

*Includes Empty Container Moves  

Anecdotal Data from NWSA Customers 

Multiple import BCOs have confirmed that since the US-China agreement was announced last week, bookings from China have surged significantly. Feedback indicates that many importers will attempt to bring in orders prior to the end of the current 90-day pause. Vessel space will likely be fully utilized during the period of high demand.    

 

Monthly Statistics 

April’s full import and export numbers were release 5/19 and can be found here. March’s numbers can be found here. Highlights of the April monthly report are:

• Total NWSA TEU volume increased 7.4% April 2025 vs. April 2024 and is up 15.9% YTD. 
• International volume increased 8.6% April 2025 vs. April 2024 and is up 20% YTD. 
• Domestic volume increased 3.6% April 2025 vs. April 2024 and is up 2.5% YTD. 
• Full international imports in April increased 8.8%, marking 14 consecutive months of month-over-month growth.  
• Full international exports decreased 1.7%.  
• Total container volume (international and domestic) for the month reached 277,828 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). 
•  YTD volumes are up 15.9%, with full imports growing 21.7% and full exports declining 0.5%.