News / Taiwanese shipping lines set to profit from proposed Vietnam tariff deal

Taiwan’s three largest liner operators are poised to gain from this week’s proposed tariff settlement between the US and Vietnam, as Evergreen Marine Corporation, Yang Ming and Wan Hai Lines launched several intra-Asia services to Vietnam early this year.

In March, Yang Ming refined its Japan Kansai Express service that originally connected western Japan with southern China and Taiwan to include a call at Vietnam’s Haiphong.

Yang Ming said: “This was done to meet the Vietnam’s growing market demand and to drive growth in the intra-Asia market.”

In April, EMC collaborated with Wan Hai Lines, Regional Container Lines and Bengal Tiger Line to start CIX7 Vietnam-Thailand-India (east coast).

In the same month, EMC launched the “Vietnam-Thailand-Malaysia” (VTS) route connecting the southern Chinese ports of Shekou and Nansha with Sihanoukville in Cambodia, Thailand’s Laem Chabang, Singapore, Indonesia’s Batam, and Port Klang in Malaysia. With this, EMC and Hong Kong-based SITC are the only shipping lines to provide a regular connection between China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

In 2024, Vietnam’s containerised exports went up 21% YoY to 29.9m teu. In the first five months of 2025, the Southeast Asian country’s exports totalled 13.23m teu, a 13% growth from the year-ago period.

The US signalled this week that tariffs on imports from Vietnam will be down to 20%, from the original 46% levied in April – although the social media post by the US president has not been confirmed by either Vietnam or the White House.

To prevent countries from passing off their exports as originating from Vietnam, the US may also impose a steeper tariff of 40% on goods that are transhipped through the Southeast Asian country.

The financial penalty on transhipping through Vietnam may prompt Chinese manufacturers to expand output in Southeast Asia and Mexico.

Yang Ming’s ex-chairman Bronson Hsieh told Taiwanese media that US importers will assess which exporting countries have favourable pricing, after including tariffs.

David Yen, founding chairman of Taiwanese forwarding group T3EX, said the market should wait for the final outcome of talks between the US and China.

He said US importers would make a full assessment once revised tariffs on all US imports are finalised. Mr Yen believes that regardless of the outcome of the tariff negotiations, the purchase of products from Asia by American consumers will not change, and the impact on ocean freight will not be great in the long run.

Linerlytica analyst Tan Hua Joo told The Loadstar that the US-Vietnam trade deal is unclear, especially with the transhipment tariffs that are aimed at Chinese re-exports through Vietnam.

He said: “The impact on intra-Asia trade is unclear as it depends on what the other countries’ US tariffs end up in.”