It might just be a perception or maybe it's a fact, the truth is that freight forwarders and cargo owners needing cold chain are increasingly looking for more and more refrigerated containers and are having trouble finding enough frozen spaces for their loads.
According to Alex von Stempel, the CEO of Cool Logistics, this shortage could be caused by alliances, mergers and the great bankruptcy of last year. According to an article, the problem could have started in Eastern Europe, which does not have a route with a high flow of refrigerated containers, but does have a high flow of proteins being transported to the Japanese and Chinese markets, which affects the cargo of beef, pork and salmon toward the Asian region.
Good News?
The shortage of containers should be good news. However, the cold chain seems to be governed by rules that are different than in the rest of the containerized logistic chain, as the cargo owners need specific conditions to export their goods based on relatively stable flows.
However, if the ships continue to increase in size and partnerships continue to shrink the range of suppliers, then the lack of cargo problem will continue to exist, and it will become increasingly worse. Much cargo, both cool and dry, will remain at origin waiting for the available spaces to be filled and in the search for reefer containers to maintain the food's cold chain. At the moment the problem seems to be concentrated only in the European region previously mentioned, but as the shortage of refrigerated containers becomes more and more noticeable, other routes and goods will be affected, such as the bananas or meat coming from Latin America; and nobody wants the food to be wasted.
Limited offer
In the midst of an oversupply of space, the supply of space providers is becoming limited. Last year's mergers and acquisitions have left customers with fewer and fewer options to choose who will transport their cargo. For example, the recent acquisition of Hamburg Süd by Maersk Line has led to the sale of Mercosur's regional shipping company further reducing alternatives for exporters in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil who mainly need to ship fruits and vegetables to distant markets. For some small-volume sellers, the freight forwarders option is valid, but for exporters of large quantities of foods, such as Chilean salmon, or Argentine meat, this alternative is too expensive and time-consuming.
Old and new technology
The lifespan of a reefer container is approximately 10 to 12 years (the standard container has an average lifespan of 15 to 20 years), so a container with a decade of use is already living in its last days. In the absence of refrigerated containers, freight forwarders are receiving old containers from the shipping companies, who in turn prioritize the use of newer and better containers for their own use.
For example, Maersk has made a significant investment in reefer containers in recent years, so "Why should we allow others to benefit from our investment?" said a Manager of the company.
Source: mundomaritimo.cl