The beginning of the traditional peak season in the ocean container shipping market this year was marked by an unusually early start, said Tommy Hsi, CEO of Wan Hai Lines. Usually, the biggest load on transportation occurs between July and October, but the global market is already experiencing a shortage of container equipment.
Initially, due to the crisis in the Red Sea, the availability of free space on container ships decreased, and now even the container equipment itself is beginning to be in short supply, Tommy Hsi said. Analysts’ forecasts show that soon only 0.7% of containers, or about 190,000 TEU, may remain in global trade.
Tommy Hsieh characterized the current situation as a “container war” and compared it to the conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier it was known that container manufacturers sold out of their products until August this year, but now the number of orders for future containers has increased significantly.
“After the shortage of ships, the struggle for containers began, and orders for new containers have increased significantly. The main container manufacturers are already busy until November,” he added.