Container terminals: on the verge of collapse

Currently, we observe that all cargo terminals around Moscow are overflowing with empty containers. And this is against the background of a shortage of container equipment. It would seem that what kind of deficit can we talk about? But about 30-40% of these containers belong to companies that left Russia (Maersk and others). Nothing can be done with this equipment without the consent of the owners. That is why they stand idle, occupying considerable space.

Another flow is new containers that arrive and are unloaded at terminals and then stand waiting for further instructions. This equipment, too, accounts for about 30-40% of terminal cargo turnover.

Numerous containers lying “dead weight” and arriving containers puts a serious load on the terminals, which are not prepared to handle such volumes. All this leads to congestion. In fact, cars can stand for days waiting for unloading.

A similar situation exists at railroad terminals, only there whole railroad trains are waiting for unloading. This slows down the turnover of containers, platforms and railcars.

The withdrawal of international container companies from the Russian market has led to the fact that the number of containers that can be used has greatly decreased. As a consequence, owners are starting to build up their own fleet of containers, and foreigners (mainly from China) are coming in with new containers. This helps to partially solve the deficit problem, but aggravates the utilization of terminal capacities.

So the outlook is disappointing: until the issue of “hung” containers is resolved, the situation will only worsen.