As we all know 2020 was a hard year for the Shipping Containers Industry and now it extends to 2021 as well, with a hope of slowing down towards the end of the year, or at least that’s what everyone is saying. On the long run with the fast growing population, the need of goods and products is also growing so import / export will also rise, so the main way of goods to be shipped worldwide is inside a shipping containers aboard a shipping liner. So what do you think the future holds for the shipping container industry?
The concerns over the climate change has driver many industries, including the maritime industry, to focus on different ways to increase, but efficiently. Nowadays, most of the shipping containers are currently being transported by container ships, which they try to keep a low impact on the environment, since all the methods of packaging are the most environmentally friendly.
All shipping containers are made out of metal ( cor-ten steel ), sturdy, protecting the goods inside from the weather, their shape permits the liners to stack them both on ships and on land. Now think about Smart Containers, some powerful words that we hear more often, is an advancing trend that will only continue to spiral upwards as technology advances to even greater heights. Smart containers are primarily about advanced container tracking and increased security for the goods contained inside. Better tracking means faster and more efficient movement of the shipping container from point A to point B. It can also expedite a container’s clearance through customs. A faster process is not only far more efficient, but also infinitely more profitable.
Worldwide global trade experts have predicted that trade will continue to expand despite recent political and economical shifts that could affect the market performance, even with another pandemic it will still go up. If the trade growth continues, it might be reasonable to expect the use of shipping containers to transport products to grow as well. However, some maritime experts are questioning whether the world has already reached peak globalization, and if international trade patterns will change in the future because of trade wars ( which it might be happening now ) and environmental regulations needing the industry to decrease emissions.
With the Container Industry growing every day, ships are to become bigger and bigger and the ports are already becoming far more congested. There will be a need to spread out the workload, with some container ships docking at other nearby ports, rather than all converging on the main port, sitting in 20-25 miles lines, congesting the bays and the nearby area. This means that smaller ports will need to be updated in order to accommodate larger vessels and an increase in shipping container activity on the docks. Without port diversification and improvement, major ports will just become even more congested to the point where the shipment of cargo containers will be slower rather than faster, as new technology intends. You can check out our articles about ports congestions that happened this year and they’re still happening here and here.
If you start analyzing the market and what is happening right now worldwide, you can consider the shipping containers as a commodity. Their price increased, they are in high demand and they will be far more in the future as the industry will be growing. Also other trends are using the shipping containers to build housing and homes for the fast growing population, offices and storage units worldwide. The shipping container usage is so versatile that it can fit almost every need, and every industry, besides it’s main purpose to store and hold goods while shipped overseas
This is another lesson that you never mush underestimate the power of a shipping container and the industry that is being part of. Let’s hope for a better and greener future for every one of us, starting with the Shipping Container Industry.
