Global Trends in the Container Shipping Industry – A massive industry about which we know only a little!

Just as the global scenario, the container shipping industry in Sri Lanka is also booming and ever-upgrading. New technologies help this industry to achieve greater heights. Thanks to prominent giants in the industry the likes of South Asia Gateway Terminals, the Sri Lankan container shipping industry has been able to perform on par with the global standards. Today, every Colombo terminal uses the best of advanced technologies and that is great news.

Idle vessels are not a new term if you are familiar with the shipping industry. In 2015, the world had 330 idle vessels anchored, but this number came down to 65 vessels in 2018. This is really a positive trend! And, this evolvement should continue.

Back in the days, more focus was on building massive container vessels, and companies were investing hugely in the same. There was a clear issue between the supply and the demand in the container segment. But today, the cargo volumes are increasing much faster than the growth of the container fleet. This puts the market in a balanced state.

It is a fact that ports are designed for massive ships. When vessels also try to enter the port, this creates some common operational issues. The congestion is the main issue, and when the vessels are getting bigger day by day, this issue becomes even more critical. New strategies are being discussed by industry experts. Whatever the decision they come up with, it surely has to be a win-win solution for all parties.

This is 2021, and we never know what transformations will have occurred by 2050! In the global container industry, the most active and the biggest market is China and this will continue to be the trend for some good years (according to the population growth rate and their economic growth rate). But, does that mean that other markets will never emerge? Countries like Nigeria today have only 174 million people, but as per the predictions, their population will go up to 440 million. Won't the demand be affected by this population increase? Yes, the whole world trade will be subjected to diverse changes sooner!

Companies that depended on cargo are increasingly shifting to the container shipping method. This is the simplest way the concept of 'containerisation' can be explained. Various industries are even changing their product specifications (features) to fit the container shipping method (industries like paper and timber). According to them, this method creates fewer risks, so the security is much higher. In addition to all these trends, there are some general trends in the container shipping industry such as the major focus on sustainability.