Zim Integrated Shipping Services is relaunching a suspended service from China to Los Angeles due to the demand revival amid the 90-day pause in the tariff spat between Washington and Beijing but has nonetheless downgraded its volume expectations for the trans-Pacific trade.

The Zim Central China Xpress, connecting Los Angeles with Ningo and Shanghai, will restart next week, the carrier said Monday, little more than a month after Zim announced its suspension on April 22 as part of the carrier’s broader 30% to 35% trim in its trans-Pacific network.

Zim’s volumes from China halved after President Donald Trump on April 9 announced 145% tariffs on Beijing, although an influx of imports from Vietnam and Thailand helped mitigate the plunge.

The sudden decline in US import booking has spurred Zim to downgrade its 2025 outlook for growth on the trans-Pacific to low single digits compared with its original forecast of high-single-digit growth. The market is at the highest level of uncertainty in recent memory, and the health of volumes for the rest of the year hinges on the extent of US tariffs on Chinese imports, Zim CEO Xavier Destriau told the Journal of Commerce.

While there is a threat that a rebound in imports from China could overwhelm US West Coast ports, Destriau said the US marine terminals Zim is calling are fluid.

“But at some point, there is a risk of port congestion, if indeed, there is a surge in volume and a surge of capacity potentially also being redeployed due to newly recovered attractiveness of the trade,” he said.

The frontloading of cargo by US importers in the first quarter in anticipation of higher US tariffs pushed up Zim’s first-quarter volume 12% year over year. Net income tripled to $296 million while revenue jumped 28%.

Acknowledging that its fleet was more exposed than other carriers to a coming US tax on Chinese tonnage, Zim said it would swap out Chinese-built ships from the US trades before the new fees are implemented in October. CMA CGM on Friday said it would take a similar tactic.