Low traffic at the port of Seattle - updated

I have lots of chores to attend to today, but wanted to insert this info about trade.  This morning the above photo was posted in the pics subreddit along with the observation that "The port is empty.  Only one ship and no containers. Usually a busy port."  Another Redditor checked marine traffic data and added "Checked it out myself on marine traffic, one cargo ship from Busan currently docked and one vehicle carrier from Hawaii."

I looked for confirmation elsewhere and found it in the business page of the Seattle Times:

Experts think it won’t be until May that the full impacts of a U.S.-China tariff tit-for-tat hit the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, given the weekslong transit times between the sparring nations.  But port officials and port-dependent businesses are already feeling the early effects.

They’re also bracing for what could be a substantial decline not only in import and export activity, but also in work for related players. That includes longshoremen who handle the cargo and truckers who haul goods into and out of the ports...

Starting last summer, many U.S. companies began importing extra inventory or shipping extra products overseas out of concern that then-candidate Trump would win reelection and make good on his campaign promises of high tariffs. 

That forward buying continued in the first three months of this year. In January, February and March, the ports of Tacoma and Seattle handled nearly 666,000 inbound and outbound containers, a 24% jump from the same period in 2024, port data shows. 

While it’s unclear how much of that extra volume was tied to forward buying, “a significant portion of that is likely due to folks advancing orders with concerns about potential tariffs,” said Steve Balaski, director of business development at the Northwest Seaport Alliance.

Now, however, the period of forward buying appears to be giving way to a period of slow or even no buying...

Trump's earlier claims that the tariffs were bringing in millions of dollars reflected that "advanced ordering" (just as recent commercial store sales are stabilized by consumers stocking up).  The reality is starting to hit, and it's going to hit hard.

Our family is stocking up on certain items.  FYI, here's a longread from a toilet paper company re the potential effects of tariffs on that historically newsworthy product.

Addendum:  An anonymous reader found this comment at the Reddit source link: '"That looks like Terminal 30, which paused operations at the beginning of the year until further notice due to waste water quality regulations. This was an operational pause planned as long ago as August 2024. Additional traffic is being rerouted to other terminals and to Tacoma."  I have therefore modified the title of the post and some of the language in my commentary to indicate that the situation at the port appears to be serious, but not cataclysmic.

Addendum:  This link shows current traffic in the port.

Addendum:  An anonymous reader provided the link for this very thorough and informative video:

See also: Don’t Look at Stock Markets. Look at the Ports.