Where Are The Containers ?

Freight shipping is in crisis after the pandemic which has cascading effect on container shortage. The effect is global and has disrupted the complete supply chain. Here are some of the reasons:

Retrieval of Empty Containers:

Due to halted economic activity, many factories closed temporarily, causing large numbers of containers to be stopped at ports. The reduced vessels in sea puts brake on export and import and thus empty containers were not picked up. China resumed exports earlier than the rest of the world, a consequence of this is that almost all the remaining containers in Asia headed out to Europe and North America, but those containers did not come back quickly enough.

Reduced Manpower

Massive workforce disruptions due to coronavirus restrictions affected handling of containers. There was no time to clear the exceptionally large backlog of containers with limited workers before more started arriving.

Carriers jump on lucrative transpacific profits

Container shipping rates have been surging on all East to West shipping routes since May and is more than doubled. SE Asia to US rates have spiked from around $2,000 up to an eye watering $4,500 per 40ft container.

Global container fleet shrinking

The production of container slowed down due to pandemic and lower demand. The scrapping of containers now exceeds the building of new ones, causing inventories in factories to plummet. It will take months before more vessels and containers are built. 

The race for available containers

The lack of containers cannot satisfy current shipping demands. Any available containers are booked out immediately.