Ocean carriers are investing heavily in container control systems to maximise their box fleets, says an article published in The Loadstar.
Hapag-Lloyd chief executive on current market conditions
Chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd, Rolf Habben Jansen said, “Current market conditions had increased container usage time by some 20%, compared with pre-pandemic. In reality, this means you need about 20% more boxes to transport the same amount of goods.”
Different leasing companies express their views
Carriers have been busy extending those lease periods at higher rates, as well as aggressively tapping every leasing company for extra equipment, making it known they will outbid rivals, both in terms of daily rate and lease duration.
- Container leasing company Triton, having over 25% of the liner market, describes trading as exceptionally strong. With carriers also hanging on to their own boxes for much longer than previously, new and second-hand prices for containers have soared.
- According to online leasing and trading platform Container xChange, the average price for a used 20ft box surged 94% between November and March, to $2,521. Their founder and CEO Johannes Schlingmeier said, “The relentless pace of the container shipping trade since the summer of 2020 is not easing, and this is reflected in equipment shortages in Asia and elsewhere. We expect markets will tighten even further in the coming weeks as the ripple effect of the Suez Canal closure further disrupts container shipping services and equipment availability.”
Dr. Schilngmeier further adds, “It always depends on the exact equipment type, but before shortages became critical, a standard used container which was a few years old would cost around $1,000 in China, while a new one would be about double the price. However, in the current market, used containers are selling at $2,300-$2,600 across China, while prices for new containers, at Shanghai for example, have skyrocketed by 64% this year to an average of $3,390.”
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Source: TheLoadstar
