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A new approach is needed to reduce the enormous costs involved in moving empty containers around the world to match box demand with supply, delegates at the intermodal Europe conference in Hamburg were told this week.
A typical mid-sized ocean carrier will pay up to $500m a year in empty container positioning costs, with a staggering $15-$20bn spent industry-wide, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
BCG told delegates it had studied the positioning costs of 12 global carriers and calculated that deadheading ...
Comment on this article
Jon
November 19, 2015 at 8:54 pmDo the consultants understand deadweight factor. You can fill a vessel to slot capacity with import cargo because the weight is generally not an issue when shipping finished product. The equipment cubes out in most cases before it will weigh out. The return leg from U.S. as example is scrap, paper and chemicals (we refer to as “rocks and trees”). These cargoes alway weigh out the vessels making it impossible to fill the ship by teu allocation. That’s why we load empties back in those slots to fill the allocation we are paying for. If not we end up with a mountain of empties, excessive storage and a shortage of empties at the mfg locations. Also due to the nature and pattern of the cargo, inland empties will always be required to move to the ports, and that is where positioning cost will remain.
John Roberts
November 20, 2015 at 2:40 pmSomeone needs to invent collapsible containers so several folded up empties can be shipped back in one normal container.
I might do this at the weekend.