Empty containers accumulate in Chinese ports, highlighting weak demand

Within a space of a year, the catch-phrase in the liner industry has gone from “containers are hard to come by” to concerns of a container glut, as freight levels reverse to pre-Covid-19 lows.

Chinese netizens have been posting photos of the country’s busiest ports, namely Shanghai and Yantian (Shenzhen), overflowing with empty containers.

Local media has also reported that orders for manufactured goods for many Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises and exporters have plunged, sending them...

https://container-news.com/empty-containers-accumulate-in-chinese-ports-highlighting-weak-demand/

HMM Launches Digital System To ‘Track & Trace’ Empty Containers

Credits: Marius Steinke/Getty Images

South Korea’s flagship container carrier HMM has designed its own online system to locate and exchange empty containers with other companies, reports the Loadstar.

Resolving the container imbalance

The company yesterday applied to patent its HMM Container Interchange Platform (HIP). “HIP is a self-developed service to quickly exchange HMM’s containers with other companies’ to resolve the container imbalance by region,” said HMM.

It said an imbalance of container...

https://mfame.guru/hmm-launches-digital-system-to-track-trace-empty-containers/

Can accordion-style folding containers unclog crowded ports, distribution centers?

Staxxon's folding shipping containers can fold five in the space of one.

Local union freight workers were among those New Jersey-based Staxxon approached for initial feedback on its shipping containers that fold and bundle for space-saving storage.

After examining the containers, the workers offered an unexpected response.

“They said all of our open profiles … needed to be sealed off so people couldn’t put drugs inside them and smuggle them in,” George Kochanowski, founder and CEO of Staxxon, told FreightWaves.

The safety beams and the headers and sills that frame the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/can-accordion-style-folding-containers-unclog-crowded-ports-distribution-centers

GSCW chat: Port of Oakland works to increase export capacity

Head shot of Bryan Brandes, maritime director, Port of Oakland

This fireside chat recap is from Day 5 of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Port of Oakland perspective on the pandemic and supply chain challenges

DETAILS:  

SPEAKER: Bryan Brandes, maritime director, Port of Oakland 

BIO: Brandes has spent 25 years in the maritime industry. He began his current position in June 2020. Before joining the port, he was vice president, Pacific Southwest Region Operations, for FlexiVan Leasing, an intermodal chassis leasing company. He...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/gscw-chat-port-of-oakland-works-to-increase-export-capacity

Ports of LA, Long Beach clear containers, set January records

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach rebounded from year-over-year December volume drops and reported January records.

The Port of LA handled 865,595 twenty-foot equivalent units last month. It was the best January in the port’s 115-year history and 3.6% better than the first month of 2021, when the port moved 835,516 TEUs.  

“We also eclipsed our January 2019 record of 852,000 container units, when cargo owners were trying to get ahead of the tariff deadlines set by the previous...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ports-of-la-long-beach-clear-containers-set-january-records

Port of Oakland plans empty container yard to help ag exporters

Aerial view of containers at a big port.

The Port of Oakland, in collaboration with California and federal officials, is redoubling efforts to remove hurdles making it difficult for agriculture exporters to reach overseas markets. 

The port authority announced Monday it is setting up a 25-acre staging area on port property where empty containers can be stacked and made available for rapid access by exporters, partnering with state and federal agencies to promote the facility and reiterated calls for ocean carriers to restore service to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/port-of-oakland-plans-empty-container-yard-to-help-ag-exporters

LA port pressures ocean carriers to remove empty containers faster

Containers and chassis stacked at a port with cranes in the background.

In its latest congestion mitigation effort, the Port of Los Angeles announced Thursday it plans to start charging ocean carriers a hefty surcharge next month for empty containers that are stored on marine terminals for nine days or longer.

Under the new program, scheduled to go into effect Jan. 30, carriers will be billed $100 per empty that overstays the limit, with the fee increasing in $100 increments per container per day until the container departs the terminal. 

The fees proposed by port...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/la-port-pressures-ocean-carriers-to-remove-empty-containers-faster

Retailers open pop-up container yards to bypass Savannah port jams

Stacks and stacks of orange shipping containers at a port.

Overflow lots set up by large retailers this month as temporary staging areas for imported containers have helped bring down congestion levels at the Port of Savannah, and Georgia officials expect further efficiency gains with this week’s opening of two more port-sponsored pop-up sites.

The Georgia Ports Authority, in partnership with the Norfolk Southern, will start accepting loaded containers on Monday at the freight railroad’s nearby Dillon Yard and later this week will begin routing shipping...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/retailers-open-pop-up-container-yards-to-bypass-savannah-port-jams

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