A severe shortage of shipping containers in some countries and an oversupply in others has created bottlenecks all over the world. Pakistan has been hit particularly hard.
“There is a material shortage of containers, and it will take us till March to sort it out,” said the Chairman of the Pakistan Ship’s Agents Association. “The crunch began back in September but has shown no signs of abating,” he added.
When shipping lines around the world stopped operations, some countries were left with a surplus of containers and others with a deficit. Getting global shipping lines to restart is proving challenging. This shortage has led to an increase in freight shipping costs.