How did the container shortage come about? After China’s Covid-19 recovery and during the shutdowns in the Western hemisphere, only 40% of containers shipped from China to North America were returned to back China. This means almost half of those containers are unusable and container manufacturers are not producing them fast enough to meet the current demands. A shortage in containers means a shortage in inventories and as big retailers try to get stock ready for the pre-holiday season, they are driving the demand even higher. Due to the high demand, container manufacturers are charging premiums for their containers (Source: dedola.com).
Despite our company’s efforts to absorb as many of these price surges as possible for all our customers in the past months, these container surcharges will begin to emerge in our prices in the weeks to come. This is not the news we want to bring to you, but we are committed to being a transparent company as we value the trust you put in us as your supplier.