With almost all sea containers being manufactured in China, recent disruption caused by Covid, and other market forces, have led to volatility in the supply of new units.

Here Sarah Manning, Managing Director of container supplier Secure Stores Nationwide, explains why there may be shortages this summer.

Last year saw severe container shortages globally. Lack of production space for containers in China, the blockage in the Suez Canal, congestion in ports around the world and truck driver shortages all joined forces to create the perfect storm. Waiting lists for containers were the norm, and this of course happened at the same time as the UK experienced a boom in customers wanting to store goods.

As I write this at the end of May, container stock levels are currently good, however there are signs this may not last. February saw Chinese New Year as usual, which generally means the container factories shutting down for around 2-3 weeks. The container factories reopened as normal after their celebrations and built the next batches of containers in early March. In around mid-March, Shanghai went into lockdown. China’s goal is to get to ‘zero covid’, and although not all areas were closed at the same time, production stopped for containers because of difficulties in getting materials.

The freshly built containers sat quietly waiting at the factories. It is now nearly the end of May, and the factories are just starting to reopen and manufacture containers again. As for the containers waiting at the factory, these will likely move slowly owing to the congestion at Shanghai Port, and the backlog of containers for shipment. The shipping lines have also forewarned of potential problems for the coming months with cabotage, the method used by container traders to move their containers to the UK.

Cabotage is the lending of containers to the shipping lines to use for cargo destined for the UK. This means their journey is free and keeps the cost of a container low. Given that only a very small handful of new containers have been loaded on to vessels for shipping to the UK for the last four months, this is likely to mean container shortages over the summer months.

If you think you’ll have requirements for containers over the summer, I recommend speaking to suppliers early to avoid disappointment.

Photo: Sarah Manning.