Empty Shipping Containers Pile Up in Chinese Ports as China’s Exports Continue to Decline
Empty shipping containers used for export have been piling up in Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangdong, and other major Chinese ports since December, as China’s foreign trade continues to decline.
The latest data from ContainerxChange, a global container trading platform, shows that in the sixth week of 2023 (February 5–11), the CAx (Container Availability Index) of Shanghai Port’s 40-foot container reached 0.64, and has remained above 0.6 for 11 consecutive weeks.
According to the definition of ContainerxChange, if CAx exceeds 0.5, it indicates that the port has a surplus of containers while less than 0.5 indicates that there is a shortage of containers.
Aerial view of shipping containers sitting stacked at Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai, China, on May 19, 2021. (Shen Chunchen/VCG via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, several mainland Chinese media have recently revealed that there are more than four layers of containers stacked together at the third container terminal in Beilun of Ningbo, all of which are empty. Empty containers are piled up to 6 or 7 stories high at various terminals in the Waigaoqiao Port Area of Shanghai Port. Workers at Shanghai dock told the media that the empty containers have piled up to eight stories high, and that there are also a large number of empty containers in the Yangshan Deepwater Port Area. Yantian Port in Guangdong has a record number of empty containers, stacked up to seven layers high, since the opening of the port 29 years ago….