THE
current acute shortage of boxes on many tradelanes has exposed the lack of
investment by carriers in their container fleets, with Drewry estimating that by the end of the year the global stock of
containers will be 42.4 million TEU, down 1 per cent on 2019.
In
comparison, Alphaliner expects the containership fleet to have grown by 3.5 per
cent, to reach capacity of 24.05 million TEU.
Slow-steaming
and the 'new normal' of port congestion has considerably extended the time
needed to recycle equipment with the latest reports reflecting equipment
shortages at every main Chinese port, reports London's The Loadstar.
With
just a few exceptions, every carrier has been impacted, with the crisis now
extending beyond the popular 40ft high-cube containers to all other types of
boxes.
And
with carriers' priority on positioning empty equipment back to Asia, to take
advantage of skyrocketing freight rates on headhaul legs, exporters in the US
and Europe are severely challenged by the dwindling number of service options open
to them.
Indeed,
the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is investigating
the actions of carriers in refusing bookings from the American agricultural
industry, thereby "shutting them out of global markets".
Carriers are happy to forfeit the backhaul freights
in order to have their equipment available back in Asia unencumbered by cargo
loading and discharge delays.
And
the lack of investment in containers by carriers, rather than their blinkered
focus on ordering ultra-large ships, appears to be at the root of the problem.
"There
has been under-investment in new containers until very recently," Simon
Heaney, senior manager supply chain research at Drewry said. "The
unexpected surge in demand has placed incredible stress on the supply chain and
caused unavoidable bottlenecks.
"There
is no easy fix, unfortunately. New containers are being added - manufacturers
are full until March - but unless the other problems are fixed, many of those
too will get stuck in the system," he added.
An
industry liner source said internal procurement requests had been "batted
away".
"The
cost stranglehold has been very tight for years and requests to purchase new
boxes have been put at the bottom of the list," he said. "All we were
told was that we had to be more efficient with our container control and, in
exceptional circumstances, we might get the green light to take more boxes on
lease."
Carriers
have moved towards leasing containers in recent years, they now account for
over 50 per cent of the global fleet and only one-third of new containers being
purchased by carriers in the past five years.
The
leasing option is favoured by many carriers due to the flexibility it affords
them as a just-in-time policy, as well as the reduced storage and positioning
costs it offers to lines relentlessly trying to cut unit costs.
However,
with leasing companies fully committed, carriers will need to revisit their
strategy on their container fleets or risk losing market share to rivals that
have a greater availability of equipment.
Source
: HKSG.
agen dengan 100% player vs player hanya di IONQQ :)
BalasHapusWA : +855 1537 3217