Wondering where your stuff from overseas is? Shipaggedon!

[Marie13]

What's the current state and/disposition of empty containers worldwide? Wasn't this a serious problem earlier along in the pandemic? Should I be buying stock in shipping container production?

Everything is cattywampus. They’re virtually all made in China.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I have long admired some of those houses constructed out of them.

And the swimming pools.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Everything is cattywampus. They’re virtually all made in China.

That's a problem for my investment strategy.

 

[merxlin]

As of Sunday, there were 47 container ships at anchor or drifting (since the anchorages are maxed out) off LA/Long Beach. The previous high was 40 on Feb. 1. On Sunday, there were 76 ships in berths (dockside), at anchor, or drifting - 4.8 times the per-Covid level (from an American Shipper article). Sheesh. And peak season for the holidays has barely started.

Here's a view outside Long Beach harbor a couple weeks ago- poor video quality but we counted 30+ ships

 

[Manatee Diver]

Did you see any ships waiting to depart? I saw 2-3 when we exited Long Beach on the ferry and on the SDE.

 

[dmaziuk]

And the swimming pools.

The late Sun Microsystems tried turning them into "mobile" server rooms and even sold a few.

 

[Marie13]

Here's a view outside Long Beach harbor a couple weeks ago- poor video quality but we counted 30+ ships

Thanks. Landscape your phone next time!

 

[broncobowsher]

I got an email from a vender today. Upcoming price increases (I would have to open both spreadsheets and compare that I am too lazy to do) October 1st. Cost of shipping goods from Asia has risen. A normal container would have cost about $4k to ship has gone up dramatically. If they said it now cost $8k I would have been shocked that it doubled. But it isn't that little. Now it is $25k. 5-fold increase in shipping costs.

 

[merxlin]

Thanks. Landscape your phone next time!

I know......it drives me crazy too. But was the end of a long dive day......

 

[merxlin]

Did you see any ships waiting to depart? I saw 2-3 when we exited Long Beach on the ferry and on the SDE.

Several of those ships are full of empty containers. They sit really high in the water.

The exports from China exceed what we send to them which decreases the availability of containers there, but it is also expensive to ship empty containers back to China.