Box equipment shortages have been observed in many ports, which lead to a restricted available capacity, forcing freight rates to record highs, Drewry reports.
Specifically, the global container equipment fleet is expected to experience a decrease of 1.1% to 39.9m teu, at the end of 2020, in comparison to the projected decrease, 3.3%.
Drewry’s director, head or research products, Martin Dixon stated that the record highs that are being seen in global ports are due to empty container repositioning issues rather than inadequate fleet.
In addition, it is stated that the surge in cargo demand has led to more investment in new container equipment, as the numbers showed a recovery on the manufacturing sector, from the 35% contraction that was seen in global output in the first quarter of 2020. Specifically, experts expect that the manufacturing will reach 2.67m teu by the end of the year, down 5% on 2019.
Despite the surge, it is noted that the ratio of port throughput per shipping container, a key measure of equipment availability, only reached a reading of 20 in 2H20, which is not particularly high by historical standards.
Dixon commented that “it is the disruption to container supply chains wrought by the unprecedented number of blanked sailings, which reached as high as 30% of sailings on some trades back in 2Q20, that led to the current shortage of empty containers in key cargo demand centres such as China.”
Despite the challenges, demand for new containers and factories’ reports of full orderbooks well into 1Q21, shows that output in 2021 will boost as much as 40% with further growth anticipated in subsequent years.
