Hard to find a box! There has been a severe shortage of containers for several months and export del
- Author:Kyrie
- Source:Sunny
- Release Date:2020-09-30
The global distribution of containers has been severely uneven in recent months.
In February of this year, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China's exports were reduced. Container equipment was stagnated in various ports in China. The stagnation of transportation and the suspension of shipping further restricted the circulation of container equipment. There is a large accumulation of containers in Chinese ports, while there is a shortage of container equipment in Europe.
Now it’s the reverse. As China resumes work and production, other countries are gradually opening up and resuming production. Containers are shipped from Chinese ports to their main export destinations. As a result, a large number of empty containers are backlogged in the United States, Europe, and Australia. However, there is a serious shortage of containers in Asia.
Maersk: There has been a shortage of containers for months
Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, admitted that due to the booming Pacific market, there has been a shortage of containers in the market for several months, especially the 40-foot-long large containers.
The day before Maersk’s statement, DHL, one of the world’s largest customers in the industry, criticized shipping companies for shipping large numbers of containers to the Pacific Ocean to profit from record high freight rates on the West Coast of the United States. As a result, this has led to a shortage of containers in other parts of the world, such as on the main Asia-Europe trade routes.
In February of this year, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China's exports were reduced. Container equipment was stagnated in various ports in China. The stagnation of transportation and the suspension of shipping further restricted the circulation of container equipment. There is a large accumulation of containers in Chinese ports, while there is a shortage of container equipment in Europe.
Now it’s the reverse. As China resumes work and production, other countries are gradually opening up and resuming production. Containers are shipped from Chinese ports to their main export destinations. As a result, a large number of empty containers are backlogged in the United States, Europe, and Australia. However, there is a serious shortage of containers in Asia.
Maersk: There has been a shortage of containers for months
Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, admitted that due to the booming Pacific market, there has been a shortage of containers in the market for several months, especially the 40-foot-long large containers.
The day before Maersk’s statement, DHL, one of the world’s largest customers in the industry, criticized shipping companies for shipping large numbers of containers to the Pacific Ocean to profit from record high freight rates on the West Coast of the United States. As a result, this has led to a shortage of containers in other parts of the world, such as on the main Asia-Europe trade routes.
Maersk wrote in an email that this particularly involved a shortage of 40-foot HC containers, which are 1 foot taller than standard 40-foot containers.
"In recent months, we have seen a general shortage of containers in the market, especially 40-foot HC containers, which are currently the most powerful customers in the market using such containers. The global supply chain bottleneck caused by the turbulence caused by the epidemic. This situation is further exacerbated." Maersk wrote.
Dominique von Orelli, head of shipping for DHL Global Freight Forwarding, pointed out this problem. He also said: “Some ocean carriers are currently unloading container equipment from Asia-Europe trade routes and intra-Asia routes in order to deploy them within a certain range. Trans-Pacific and Latin America and other high-yield routes."
"Based on this, we have observed a shortage of containers on trade routes between Asia and Europe and delays in some regions."
"In recent months, we have seen a general shortage of containers in the market, especially 40-foot HC containers, which are currently the most powerful customers in the market using such containers. The global supply chain bottleneck caused by the turbulence caused by the epidemic. This situation is further exacerbated." Maersk wrote.
Dominique von Orelli, head of shipping for DHL Global Freight Forwarding, pointed out this problem. He also said: “Some ocean carriers are currently unloading container equipment from Asia-Europe trade routes and intra-Asia routes in order to deploy them within a certain range. Trans-Pacific and Latin America and other high-yield routes."
"Based on this, we have observed a shortage of containers on trade routes between Asia and Europe and delays in some regions."
India's container shortage causes delays in exports
Logistics company New Jersey-based Worldwide Logistics said that the shortage of containers has spread to India, with inland container warehouses being the most serious, and shortages in ports are also obvious. Most direct and transshipment services from the main gateway ports of Mumbai and Mondela to the east and west coasts of the United States have been affected, and the tightness of space from Asian transshipment centers has further exacerbated transshipment.
Conbox Logistics CEO Rakesh Pandit also believes that the shortage of containers in inland terminals is particularly serious. He said: "If carriers have to plan to ship goods from dry ports in central and western India, the shortage will be even worse."
"Some industries need to wait one to two weeks to receive orders and containers, such as pharmaceutical companies, which have to wait nearly two weeks to receive orders from US ports. Planned goods such as marble, rice and other agricultural commodities. Delivery was also delayed."
Insufficient capacity, no extra space
In addition to high freight rates, this boom in the Pacific has also brought practical challenges. Shippers and logistics companies may have to wait up to four weeks to ship their containers from Asia to North America.
Carsten Trolle, Chief Executive Officer of DSV's American Airlines and Maritime Business, explained that simple bookings take longer to complete, so other routes and solutions need to be considered.
He said the biggest problem at the moment is insufficient capacity.
The problems on the market can be traced back to the outbreak of COVID-19 in many ways. As the market expects a sharp drop in demand, container liner companies have withdrawn a large amount of capacity from the market. However, the outcome of the matter was not so bad at all, but because shipping companies reduced the number of ships in operation, this resulted in an unusually hot container market, first in the Pacific region.
So much so that Trolle said that prices have been "out of control." He said: “Because there are no empty spaces on the ship, it is delayed by two, three, or even four weeks. I cannot guarantee that the containers will be shipped out because there are more containers than there are spaces.”
Several shipping companies are now redeploying tonnage in the Pacific. The latest news released by Maersk to customers on Monday pointed out the problem of too few containers and asked customers to return empty containers.
Logistics company New Jersey-based Worldwide Logistics said that the shortage of containers has spread to India, with inland container warehouses being the most serious, and shortages in ports are also obvious. Most direct and transshipment services from the main gateway ports of Mumbai and Mondela to the east and west coasts of the United States have been affected, and the tightness of space from Asian transshipment centers has further exacerbated transshipment.
Conbox Logistics CEO Rakesh Pandit also believes that the shortage of containers in inland terminals is particularly serious. He said: "If carriers have to plan to ship goods from dry ports in central and western India, the shortage will be even worse."
"Some industries need to wait one to two weeks to receive orders and containers, such as pharmaceutical companies, which have to wait nearly two weeks to receive orders from US ports. Planned goods such as marble, rice and other agricultural commodities. Delivery was also delayed."
Insufficient capacity, no extra space
In addition to high freight rates, this boom in the Pacific has also brought practical challenges. Shippers and logistics companies may have to wait up to four weeks to ship their containers from Asia to North America.
Carsten Trolle, Chief Executive Officer of DSV's American Airlines and Maritime Business, explained that simple bookings take longer to complete, so other routes and solutions need to be considered.
He said the biggest problem at the moment is insufficient capacity.
The problems on the market can be traced back to the outbreak of COVID-19 in many ways. As the market expects a sharp drop in demand, container liner companies have withdrawn a large amount of capacity from the market. However, the outcome of the matter was not so bad at all, but because shipping companies reduced the number of ships in operation, this resulted in an unusually hot container market, first in the Pacific region.
So much so that Trolle said that prices have been "out of control." He said: “Because there are no empty spaces on the ship, it is delayed by two, three, or even four weeks. I cannot guarantee that the containers will be shipped out because there are more containers than there are spaces.”
Several shipping companies are now redeploying tonnage in the Pacific. The latest news released by Maersk to customers on Monday pointed out the problem of too few containers and asked customers to return empty containers.