Following the demise of Hanjin Shipping, thousands of its empty containers are currently stranded around the world, particularly at ports in the US and Europe, causing shortages in Asia.
Stephen Abraham, Chief Operating Officer at the Port of Felixstowe said there were: “over 10,000 stranded (Hanjin) empties at the port with little prospect of immediate evacuation.”
Due to the congestion at the port, restrictions on empty containers were put in place for several days in September, 2016.
Similar problems persist in US ports, leaving their Asian counterparts facing a shortage and a massive global imbalance in container capacity. Orders for new containers in Asia have risen sharply since the collapse of Hanjin.
Until the South Korean courts decide the fate of the shipping line, the prospect of the imbalance being rectified remains unclear.
