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For chemical procurement leaders, trade policy disruption has accelerated to a pace that outstrips the planning cycles most organisations rely on. In early 2025, US chemical imports spiked to over $20 billion in March alone — the highest in more than three years1 — as buyers front-loaded orders ahead of anticipated tariff increases. By April, imports had dropped sharply, leaving teams sitting on bloated inventories and facing softer demand. The stop-start pattern repeated throughout the year, reshaping freight seasonality and making budgeting little more than informed guesswork.
For chemical companies specifically, the stakes are unusually high. Chemical inputs are woven deeply into downstream manufacturing across automotive, agriculture, construction, and consumer goods. When freight costs spike unexpectedly — or when a favoured trade lane suddenly becomes expensive or unreliable — the ripple effect can be wide and rapid.
Surcharges, Rerouting and the Hidden Cost of Disruption
The Red Sea crisis has not relented. Since late 2023, the majority of container vessels serving Asia-Europe lanes have avoided the Suez Canal, instead routing via the Cape of Good Hope. The detour adds up to 14 days to transit times with the longer route has had a lasting price. Xeneta data shows long-term contract rates into North Europe are still 58% above where they stood before the crisis took hold at the end of 2023. Chemical companies with European manufacturing operations sourcing raw materials from Asia have felt this acutely — and many have had to absorb the cost.
"Port congestion delayed critical solvent imports, impacting production timelines. We went through customer delivery pressures, had to manage stock rationing and negotiated expedited logistics to restore operational stability."
Senior Procurement from a Singapore based Chemical Shipper, The 2026 Freight Report
Meanwhile, the tariff landscape has been anything but stable. The Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index2 reached a record high following the April 2025 reciprocal tariff announcement, leaving procurement teams scrambling to model impacts, reroute supply chains, and renegotiate contracts — often at short notice and at inflated spot rates.
US chemical imports from China dropped nearly 30% year-on-year in the second quarter of 20253 — a structural shift that forced supply chains to be rebuilt around alternative origins in Southeast Asia and India. Each rerouting decision carries freight cost implications. Without real-time rate benchmarking, procurement teams cannot know whether the rates they are accepting are reasonable for the market — or whether carriers are capitalising on urgency.
What Your Peers Are Telling Us
Xeneta's survey of 450 procurement and supply chain leaders — spanning chemicals, pharmaceuticals, retail, manufacturing and beyond — reveals a sector absorbing financial strain that outpaces almost every other industry.
Notably, not a single chemical or pharmaceutical respondent reported zero tangible financial impact from supply chain disruption over the past 12 months. Every organisation in the sector is absorbing cost — the question is whether that cost is managed proactively or discovered after the fact. Now you know, the next question is what you'll do next.
The reactive approach is expensive. Last-minute mode shifts — switching from ocean to air freight, or accepting spot rates far above contracted levels — are often unavoidable when visibility into market conditions is limited. The organisations that get ahead of these decisions are those with access to independent freight rate intelligence that tells them where markets are heading, not just where they have been.
The Freight Market in 2026: Opportunity and Risk
2026 started as a shippers' market. But chemical procurement teams would be right to approach the rest of the year with caution.
Surprise surcharges, heightened tensions in the Middle East, and ongoing uncertainty around Red Sea routing mean that rates, schedules, and budgets can (and are) shifting quickly.
"50% of chemical and pharma organisations have increased contingency budgets due to volatility. Only 10% operate a fully data-driven procurement model. The gap between those two numbers is costing the sector."
The 2026 Freight Report, Xeneta
In a market that moves daily, the cost of being slow is measurable. Xeneta's platform benchmarks contracted and spot rates at lane level — drawing on data from hundreds of global shippers — so procurement teams know exactly where they stand on a specific port pair, not just a trade corridor average.
That granularity matters when surcharges land unexpectedly or a new contract is on the table. It gives procurement teams the context to have more informed, productive conversations with carriers — understanding what is driving a rate movement, and whether it reflects the broader market.
Volatile markets are also pushing shippers and carriers to work more closely throughout the life of a contract, not just at signing. Xeneta Ocean Schedules supports that ongoing relationship — tracking actual vessel performance against structural carrier schedules, so both sides are working from the same operational reality. Blank sailings, missed port calls, delays: spotted early, before they become emergencies.
The chemical procurement teams pulling ahead aren't overhauling everything at once. One small shift — replacing guesswork with independent rate benchmarking on your key lanes — changes what every conversation with a carrier looks like.
Relationships may open doors; data makes sure you walk through the right ones.
If you’re heading to LogiChem this week, our team will be there to talk about what chemical and pharma shippers are seeing in the market, and how better benchmarking and schedule visibility can help supply chains stay resilient.
Sources:
1 USITC DataWeb, Imports: For Consumption, includes data through July 2025.
2Deloitte 2026 Chemical Industry Outlook
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