South China's container supply declines

        The latest data from container xChange shows that the availability of containers in southern China's ports affected by the new crown pneumonia blockade has dropped significantly in the past two weeks. The new crown pneumonia blockade has further disrupted global container trade.

　　 In the past few weeks, productivity at ports in the Pearl River Delta has fallen sharply, and container companies say positive cases of COVID-19 have caused a slowdown in productivity.

        Data from container xChange, an online platform for container leasing and trading, shows that Yantian Port and Shekou Port near Shenzhen, and Nansha Port, a container hub in Guangzhou, have been the most affected. The availability of containers in these three ports has appeared in the past two weeks. dramatically drop.

        Dr. Johannes Schlingmeiner, founder and CEO of container xChange, said: “Because container companies do not answer the phone, there are very few empty containers shipped back to southern China. If the affected ports cannot be avoided, many shippers may face long-term delays. Delays or equipment price increases."

　　 The company went on to state that from week 17 to last week (week 22), the number of inbound containers in Yantian dropped by 19%, the number of inbound containers in Nansha dropped by 16.4% in the same period, and that in Shekou dropped by 29.6%.

　　 The number of inbound containers in each port also dropped significantly. From week 21 to week 22, the average number of inbound containers in Yantian, Shekou and Nansha dropped by 4.1%, 16.7% and 10%, respectively.

　　 In Yantian, Container xChange's 40-foot dry container container availability index (CAx) was 0.61 in week 17, but dropped to 0.47 in week 22. Most types of equipment in Shekou and Nansha also experienced similar declines during the same period.

　　 CAx is an index, lower than 0.5 means that the number of containers leaving the port is more than the number of containers entering the port, and higher than 0.5 means that the number of containers entering the port is more than the number of containers leaving the port.

　　 Dr. Johannes Schlingmeiner pointed out: “Our forecast shows that as more container routes cancel orders, the availability of containers at these ports in southern China will not increase in the next few weeks.” He also expects container prices in these areas to rise.