You don’t have to be an Australian supply chain operator for this article to be relevant. If you want to understand, in a nutshell, how empty containers have built up in Australia – and the lessons here apply to any importing country with a trade imbalance with Asia exporters – the country’s liner lobby group, Shipping Australia, has put together this easy-to-understand analysis. “Covid is at heart of the problem. Deprived of holidays, socialising with friends and nights out, consumers around Australia (and indeed, around the world) have gone on a massive and frenzied retail therapy bender. Because the demand for goods has gone into orbit, the demand for shipping services and for containers has, likewise, gone into orbit.”
