As we all know 2020 has been a challenge for everyone, each industry has been affected by the pandemic and is trying to hold the fort till reinforcements will arrive. Shipping container industry was affected as well, 202 was a record year for rising price of global shipping and shipping container prices. According to mass media around the world, shipping costs reached record heights in December this year.
Some of the largest shipping companies around the world also complain that it is almost impossible to get shipping containers and cargo ships also got so difficult to find. They are saying that nobody saw this coming and it is a disaster all over the world. Operations between China and Europe have fully loaded all their cargo ships and the shipping cost per container already doubled several times.
According to Russian media the skyrocket prices and shortage was caused by COVID-19 and the imbalance between Pacific and South Asian manufacturers and consumers in North America and European Union. Everyone is hoping that by the end of January when more units will get back to Asia, they’ll be ready for shipment again overseas and prices might go down, but it remains uncertain.
In the US, the situation is reported by several institutes very difficult, being hard to obtain shipping containers from ocean carriers over the last several months. They believe the lack of containers is being caused in part by ocean carriers that are immediately returning empty boxes to Asia, before exporters in the US have a chance to use them.
Recyclers around the country are also complaining of lack of containers and truckers. On the West Coast is hard to get a box and even if you have a booking number , at the last minute it can get rolled some or the big companies are voicing their dissatisfaction.
World Shipping Council has been notified by multiple commissioners that they want an investigation into why containers are being returned to Asia empty before American exporters have a chance to use them. The inland ports and dry box storage facilities are facing also a shortage and prices for the units also went high almost doubled over the last two months. The investigation is focusing on the container handling practices at ports on both coasts, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Either way, the shipping container crisis tends to extend over the first quarter of 2021. Price predictions are not optimistic at all. Shipping cost and pricing might increase even more and then get to a balance, until export and import picks up again. So either you want or not, we will end up paying the price if we need units to build, store or ship goods. This unforeseen event might tend to hunt us till mid summer, if all the industry participants don’t come to an agreement and save the world out of this catastrophic problem.
