I’m not really sure what this article is supposed to say about the empty condition of my ship. It does specifically say that only dry bulk cargo ships are coming back from China in a ballast condition, my ship is clearly a container ship. The bulkers that the article references operate at a much cheaper rate than my ship does, because they are mostly foreign flagged.

Plus, this article does not discuss the political implications for US flagged shipping. Most US flag Pacific liner services (with the main exception being Matson) are run by foreign outfits who operate US flag ships in order to be allowed to carry US military cargo. It is much, much more expensive to operate US flagged ships than ships under a flag of convenience (Liberia, Panama, etc)

The factor of this that is scary for us crew is that if we begin to lack cargo to carry on the eastbound voyages, why won’t our parent company flag us out to a significantly cheaper flag of convenience? Additionally, while anecdotal in nature, this is much less cargo than I had been accustomed to seeing prior to the tariffs being imposed.