Cautious optimism on container shipping

JIT SHOULD surprise nobody that cargo, either still in containers or unloaded onto pallets, is building up in warehouses, port terminals and inland depots in Europe and North America. Most of the countries that normally import large quantities of consumer goods are in lockdown and retail demand has dropped away drastically, despite frantic efforts to boost online sales and courier deliveries where such sales have still been permitted.

International freight and logistics insurer TT Club has sounded an alarm over this accumulation. It is worried about the additional risk this is bringing operators. But full container yards and warehouses, of course, spell bad news for the container shipping lines.

As TT points out, the current pandemic has disrupted global supply chains in a wide variety of ways. In particular, the lag in its effects between the large-scale sourcing regions of China and other parts of Asia and the consuming markets of Europe and North America has caused significant build-ups of goods produced in the former regions but not now required in the latter.