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Prediction: By mid-2022 there'll be a glut of containers. All the publicity around the present shortage will induce manufacturers to ramp up capacity. But that

Prediction: By mid-2022 there'll be a glut of containers. All the publicity around the present shortage will induce manufacturers to ramp up capacity. But that takes time. The short-term pinch will evaporate by the time production ramps. I wonder if there's a good systemwide way to handle this problem. Airlines use "irrops" -- irregular operations -- teams to handle big weather events, to get their airplanes to where their passengers are waiting. I suppose ocean shipping has similar irrops protocols. But the grounding of the Ever Given in the southern Suez Canal indicates that shipping irrops teams ignore actual weather events at their peril. See Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline.

alsetmusic 6y ago
> Prediction: By mid-2022 there'll be a glut of containers. All the publicity around the present shortage will induce manufacturers to ramp up capacity. From someone else quoting TFA: >> Anticipating major industry collapse, the Carrier Alliances showed remarkable discipline in aligning supply with demand as early as February; removing trade capacity from the seas by halting vessels and shipments. By doing so, the erosion of ocean rates was kept to a minimum. Basing their reaction on potential worst case scenarios, shipping carriers artificially created under-capacity. This made available space come at a premium and therefore significantly raised the cost of container shipping, stabilizing revenues for carriers. It seems the constraint is artificial. edit: moved >