Shortage forces shipping lines to reposition 1.85 million containers

Shipping lines repositioned a record 1.85 million containers in the country in 2021 as demand for exports surged and exporters continued to be hurt by an acute shortage of containers, according to lobbying body Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA).
Repositioning of containers is getting an empty container from a port of surplus to one where they are scarce.

Shipping lines had to resort to this strategy as container shortage soared across the world as several container ships got stuck in ports amid the pandemic and various restrictions even as merchandise exports from India grew 105% year-on-year to $354 billion in 2021.

"Several new services were introduced between India and various trades like the US, Europe, far East, West Africa and Latin America by carriers like MSC, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, HMM, ZIM, Feedertech and others," CSLA said in a note shared exclusively with ET.

"These helped in increasing the weekly capacity from Indian origins to these destinations by about 35,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit, or a 20-foot container) a week," it said. "Annualised, this works out to an increase in the vessel capacity by about 1.80 million TEUs."