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Better outlook buoys shipping shares
chinadaily.com.cn - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chinadaily.com.cn Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Better outlook buoys shipping shares
chinadaily.com.cn - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chinadaily.com.cn Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The world’s biggest makers of shipping containers are scrambling to meet a surge in demand for the metal boxes that shuttle some 90% of the goods around the global economy.
A trade boom in the second half of last year caught the container producers mostly Chinese companies by surprise as the pandemic threw the existing supply of about 25 million boxes off their normal routes. The manufacturers have been ramping up output ever since, but they’re unable to alleviate shortages that have underpinned soaring freight rates for six months.
The problem resembles those in the car industry, where auto makers cut computer chip orders early in 2020 expecting a slump in sales, only to see household consumption prove resilient. The container tightness and port congestion that’s accompanying it may extend into the second half of 2021, with recoveries in the U.S. and European economies expected to keep demand high for Chinese goods.
Synopsis
The problem resembles those in the car industry, where auto makers cut computer chip orders early in 2020 expecting a slump in sales, only to see household consumption prove resilient.
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Production rose to 300,000 20-foot equivalent units in September, then to 440,000 in January.
The world’s biggest makers of shipping containers are scrambling to meet a surge in demand for the metal boxes that shuttle some 90% of the goods around the global economy.
A trade boom in the second half of last year caught the container producers mostly Chinese companies by surprise as the pandemic threw the existing supply of about 25 million boxes off their normal routes. The manufacturers have been ramping up output ever since, but they’re unable to alleviate shortages that have underpinned soaring freight rates for six months.
Shippers, container makers in overdrive
Countless containers await loading at the cargo terminal of Shekou Port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, amid sustained global demand for Chinese exports－a testimony to the newfound paramount significance of supply systems and logistics in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our production schedule has been filled up till the second half of this year,” said Mai Boliang, chairman and CEO of China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd, adding that the company’s employees didn’t have much time to relax during the Spring Festival period as they raised container production volume from more than 200,000 units to over 400,000 units per month.
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