The lack of free shipping containers, as well as truck drivers, will cause problems in maritime and road transport to persist in the coming year. Thus, the length of time for which the world will face the consequences of a coronavirus pandemic will be extended.
“The whole system has turned into one gigantic narrow throat,” Soren Seku, managing director of shipping company Maersk, told reporters. According to him, the biggest problem is in the lack of labour, because of which it is not possible to check sea containers from ports in time. Especially those from China. Also missing are truck drivers who would be able to redistribute the cargo. This is primarily true of the United States or Great Britain.
According to Skoua, around 300 container ships stand outside the gates of important ports, which he has no one to load and unload, respectively. Maersk may have boosted shipping capacities, but it is effectively useless. Indeed, a larger number of ships that would be able to transport containers from one side of the globe to the other will not solve that ports are overstuffed containers. “Too much of our capacity is being fatuated by waiting outside the ports,” Ska added. And demand for shipping is said to rise yet next year.
