The latest analysis from Denmark-based shipping consultancy Sea-Intelligence shows that the proportion of the world’s container shipping capacity that is carrying boxes is continuing to climb.

The Sea-Intelligence experts calculated the ratio of the volume of empty boxes to full boxes transported based on teu-miles, and that currently 41% of global container shipping is carried out with empty boxes.

The current situation, according to the company’s latest weekly report, is that every 10 teu-miles of full container shipping, 4.1 teu-miles of empty container shipping is required – a significant increase from the “only 3.1 teu-miles before the market turmoil of 2019 – and points out that this trend has continued to rise over the past five years, only a brief small dip in 2022.

On the subject of the empty box situation, Karachi-based freight forwarding company Acumen Freight Solutions noted a recent social media post that trade flows between countries are rarely balanced. “Some areas export far more than they import, while others are import-dominated,” it said. “ leads to a mismatch in supply and demand for containers: some ports are overwhelmed with empty boxes, while others face severe shortages.”

Acumen added that Asian ports are often of boxes due to the huge amount of exports, while those in North America and Europe suffer from a surplus of empty boxes due to imports exceeding exports