How Does Coronavirus Impact Shipping Containers?

As the world prepares for the full impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, it's easy to overlook how it will impact the global supply chain and the shipping container market.

A large amount of the products that are used on a daily basis are manufactured in China, and many products are sold into the Chinese market. This week, February 10th, Chinese employees were scheduled to return back to work after an extended Lunar New Year Holiday, but many didn't. Scheduled production was already expected to be delayed due to the holiday, and extra time was added on to help isolate both those infected with Coronavirus and the healthy. Many factories and offices remain closed, so the new and used shipping containers meant to carry the goods to the United States and Europe have not been able to sail. It's expected that they will remain idle for possibly another three weeks.

According to the Wall Street Journal, container shipping lines have are losing $350 million per week in lost volumes, and more than 350,000 shipping containers have been removed from global trade since the Coronavirus outbreak.

What does this mean to the company or person looking for a shipping container for storage or a shipper owned container? It's predicted that supply will become very tight in many markets as inventory dry up and equipment becomes unavailable. If you will need a shipping container for storage or any other purpose in the near future it's well advised to act now and secure the equipment while it's available. The market will come back, it's just a matter of when a solution is discovered for the Coronavirus outbreak.

The active sellers on ContainerAuction.com still have an ample supply of shipping and storage containers in many markets. If you are in the market for a new or used container you may search in the area closest to you to see what is available. If no containers are listed complete the request form and someone will contact you regarding available inventory.

Reference: Coronavirus Toll on Shipping Reaches $350 Million a Week