Trans-Atlantic Blank Sailings 07/13/2020
Carriers announced another 9 blank sailings through week 33 (August 10th) on the Trans-Atlantic bringing the number to 23 blank sailings for the 3rd quarter. Carriers will continue to add blank sailings throughout the 3rd quarter lowering 10 to 25% of capacity which will in turn make shipping containers harder to find resulting in what could be a shortage of inventory. This has caused the price of shipping containers to rise due to the decrease in supply of over 70,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) from the Europe-North America trade from January through May.
A majority of this decline has been caused by the collapsing automotive industry sector in Europe which is a key import-export on the North Atlantic trade. Although the economy and industry are being impacted by COVID-19, causing a shortage of shipping containers, there is still equipment on the market at reasonable prices. However, over Q3 and most of Q4 we do expect inventory to dwindle and prices to stay at current highs or possibly increase as demand stays strong but supply weakens.