CONTAINERS that fold up to one-fifth their size stand to ease congestion at ports rail yards and warehouses, say backers, Bloomberg reports.
'We can solve part of this imbalance, or at least the inefficiency of transporting air,' said Holland Container Innovations Nederland CEO Hans Broekhuis.
In 2013, the company, more popularly known as '4Fold, won certification from the Container Safety Convention and International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) for its 40-foot fold-away boxes.
Almost 27 per cent of the 862 million crates measured in TEU that pass through the world's ports this year will be empty, according to Drewry estimates.
The cost to the shipping industry to get them to locations where they will be loaded is about US$20 billion, Boston Consulting Group has calculated.
Many will spend days or weeks taking up space in already-jammed holding areas and depots, compounding delays along supply chains.
All this has executives everywhere from Amazon.com to pop culture-inspired bobblehead maker Funko and milk-alternative producer Oatly grappling with how to get the necessary shipping containers to transport their wares.
More than 15 carriers and shippers navigating 60 ports worldwide are testing the containers.
Despite sparking hope among carriers and shippers, higher upfront costs and hesitancy to turn to a new business model have kept foldable containers from becoming mainstream.
As companies find themselves more pressed to find answers to supply-chain snarls, the trade-offs of investing in a new technology might become smaller, said Mr Santtu Seppala, chief strategy officer at the foldable-container company Staxxon.
After its 20-foot containers gained full certification at the height of the pandemic, the firm is planning to put them on the market next year. The company has dozens of potential buyers who have indicated interest, he said.
But the optimal mix of foldable and regular containers remains elusive, said Dr Goh Shao Hung, a logistics and supply-chain lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.If too few or too many foldable boxes are deployed, the purchase costs could offset the benefits. 'You would need to find three other foldable containers to go on the same journey,' he said.
SeaNews Turkey
'We can solve part of this imbalance, or at least the inefficiency of transporting air,' said Holland Container Innovations Nederland CEO Hans Broekhuis.
In 2013, the company, more popularly known as '4Fold, won certification from the Container Safety Convention and International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) for its 40-foot fold-away boxes.
Almost 27 per cent of the 862 million crates measured in TEU that pass through the world's ports this year will be empty, according to Drewry estimates.
The cost to the shipping industry to get them to locations where they will be loaded is about US$20 billion, Boston Consulting Group has calculated.
Many will spend days or weeks taking up space in already-jammed holding areas and depots, compounding delays along supply chains.
All this has executives everywhere from Amazon.com to pop culture-inspired bobblehead maker Funko and milk-alternative producer Oatly grappling with how to get the necessary shipping containers to transport their wares.
More than 15 carriers and shippers navigating 60 ports worldwide are testing the containers.
Despite sparking hope among carriers and shippers, higher upfront costs and hesitancy to turn to a new business model have kept foldable containers from becoming mainstream.
As companies find themselves more pressed to find answers to supply-chain snarls, the trade-offs of investing in a new technology might become smaller, said Mr Santtu Seppala, chief strategy officer at the foldable-container company Staxxon.
After its 20-foot containers gained full certification at the height of the pandemic, the firm is planning to put them on the market next year. The company has dozens of potential buyers who have indicated interest, he said.
But the optimal mix of foldable and regular containers remains elusive, said Dr Goh Shao Hung, a logistics and supply-chain lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.If too few or too many foldable boxes are deployed, the purchase costs could offset the benefits. 'You would need to find three other foldable containers to go on the same journey,' he said.
SeaNews Turkey