Excess empty containers pile up at Chinese ports

Port of Shanghai, China (Photo: PortTechnology)

Many photos have been posted of China's largest ports, especially Shanghai and Yantian (Shenzhen), which are now full of empty containers.

Local media have also reported that orders at many Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises have fallen, pushing them to the brink of bankruptcy. This trend was highlighted when a Vietnamese shoe factory owned by Taiwanese group Pou Chen had to cut 6,000 jobs due to declining orders from major sports companies Nike and Adidas.

According to data released by the Shanghai Shipping Exchange on February 11, the recovery of Chinese exports after the Lunar New Year holiday has not been as expected.

This is reflected in the container freight rates and the balance between supply and demand for shipping is not ideal.

Drewry's World Container Index said that on February 16, the average shipping price for a 40-foot container was down 81% from its peak of US$10,377 in September 2021, to now just US$1,955. The consulting firm recently estimated that the empty container supply is oversupplied by 6 million TEUs, due to over-ordering during prosperous times.

According to shipping industry experts, a large number of new container ships will be delivered this year due to record orders when shipping rates peak in 2021 and 2022. However, the prosperity time of the container shipping industry has ended, and the reduced volume of goods has caused an excess of shipping capacity.

Linerlytica analyst Tan Hua Joo said that the piling up of empty containers at ports is an illustration of a declining market.

“Cargo demand is very weak at the moment, especially in the United States, while congestion, especially in US ports, has eased. There were also excessive new containers ordered in the last two years, while older boxes were kept in circulation for longer than their normal lifespans. All that has resulted in a surplus of empty containers that I estimate at 4 million TEUs, and it will take at least a year for the situation to return to normal".

"These surplus containers are repositioned empty from inbound ships and are usually picked up for exports directly at the ports, so a slowdown in export demand will result in a build-up of surplus inventory."

See more:

Forecast of a surplus of 4.3 million TEUs of empty containers in North America by 2023
Up to 59% of US containers are empty
Empty container capacity at Chinese ports is improved
Lack of empty containers - The trend is positively improved at the time of Lunar New Year
 

Source: Phaata.com (According to ContainerNews)

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