HUNDREDS of thousands of empty containers are piling up in Southern California as ocean carriers rush to return empty boxes to factories in Asia, reports Wall Street Journal.
The empty containers are complicating efforts to unwind the bottlenecks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Loaded imports at the California ports complex increased 23 per cent compared with the same period in 2019, totalling the equivalent of 6.9 million containers between January and August.
The ports handled 20 per cent more empty boxes than in all of 2019, the equivalent of six million empty export containers.
'They take up space at the docks and they take up space at the terminals. It's a serious concern,' said Port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero.
Shipping lines are making the recovery process of the empty containers a priority because they want to take advantage of high freight rates for Asian exports.
Now with ships full, there isn't enough space for empty boxes, which are piled onto rising high stacks to await transport and loading onto outbound vessels.
Some boxes are filled with goods because shippers don't like to leave millions of dollars of merchandise in public, but the majority are empty.
Some 110,000 empty containers are stacked at port terminals on a typical day, with thousands more piled in private yards and scattered along streets.
Meanwhile, some exporters declared the ocean carriers' drive to get boxes quickly back to Asia for imports has hurt their business.
Border Valley Trading executive vice president Greg Jackson declared that he struggles to secure space on ships out of Southern California and what bookings he does make are frequently canceled.
SeaNews Turkey
The empty containers are complicating efforts to unwind the bottlenecks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Loaded imports at the California ports complex increased 23 per cent compared with the same period in 2019, totalling the equivalent of 6.9 million containers between January and August.
The ports handled 20 per cent more empty boxes than in all of 2019, the equivalent of six million empty export containers.
'They take up space at the docks and they take up space at the terminals. It's a serious concern,' said Port of Long Beach executive director Mario Cordero.
Shipping lines are making the recovery process of the empty containers a priority because they want to take advantage of high freight rates for Asian exports.
Now with ships full, there isn't enough space for empty boxes, which are piled onto rising high stacks to await transport and loading onto outbound vessels.
Some boxes are filled with goods because shippers don't like to leave millions of dollars of merchandise in public, but the majority are empty.
Some 110,000 empty containers are stacked at port terminals on a typical day, with thousands more piled in private yards and scattered along streets.
Meanwhile, some exporters declared the ocean carriers' drive to get boxes quickly back to Asia for imports has hurt their business.
Border Valley Trading executive vice president Greg Jackson declared that he struggles to secure space on ships out of Southern California and what bookings he does make are frequently canceled.
SeaNews Turkey
