Shipping container crisis- Why be concerned?
Have you noticed that shipping container prices for both New/oneway & Used increased and availability is minimal? Well that is in part from the effect the COVID-19 has on the shipping container industry. We are entering peak trade season and retail spending increases, which means the effect of containers unusual high prices and shortages are happening more than ever. Predictions are this will continue into next year, if not longer.
Containers are shown at China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan port on August 15, 2021.
Before other nations, the US economy opened and had an increase in demand for container more trade flow from countries like China back to the United States. The cost of each trip is 15 times higher than when it makes the same trip back, a condition that suggest a significant trade imbalance. Also factors such as port closures, natural disasters, political instability, strength of the dollar and instability in the number of COVID-19 cases which caused a delay in shipping. Because of recent new COVID-19 cases that emerged in one of the largest ports in China, which caused its indefinite closure. Which caused increased wait time and delays in loading and unloading of ships at other ports, therefore, will have major impacts on supply chains in the coming months.
This situation causes equipment and material orders delayed for months. Most importantly this causes increased shipping costs due to the increase of prices of shipping containers. More than 18 months into the pandemic, the disruption to global supply chains is getting worse, spurring shortages of consumer products and making it more expensive for companies to ship goods where they’re needed.
