Container shortage! An average of 3.5 boxes went out and only 1 came back!
Foreign boxes cannot be stacked, but domestic boxes are not available.

Recently, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said at a press conference, “Containers are accumulating in large numbers, and the space available for storage is getting less and less. It is simply impossible for all of us to keep up with so many cargoes.”

When the MSC ships arrived at the APM terminal in October, they unloaded 32,953 TEUs at one time.

Data from Container xChange shows that Shanghai’s container availability index this week was 0.07, which is still a “container shortage”.
According to the latest news from HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS, the transportation volume of the Port of Los Angeles in October exceeded 980,729 TEUs, an increase of 27.3% compared to October 2019.

Gene Seroka said: “The overall transaction volume is strong, but trade imbalances are still worrying. One-way trade adds logistical challenges to the supply chain.”

But he also said: “On average for every three and a half containers imported from abroad to Los Angeles, only one container is full of American export goods.”

3.5 boxes went out, only one came back.
Ke Wensheng, Chief Executive Officer of Maersk Marine and Logistics, said: “Due to the congestion at the destination port of the cargo and the shortage of local truck drivers, it is difficult for us to bring back empty containers to Asia.”

Ke Wensheng said the crux of the serious shortage of containers-the decline in circulation speed.

The prolonged waiting time for ships caused by port congestion is an important factor in the decline of container flow efficiency.

Industry professionals said:

“From June to October, the comprehensive on-time rate index of the world’s nine main routes continued to decline, and the average late berthing time of a single vessel continued to increase, respectively 1.18 days, 1.11 days, 1.88 days, 2.24 days and 2.55 days.

In October, the comprehensive on-time rate of the nine major global routes was only 39.4%, compared with 71.1% in the same period in 2019.”