Hapag-Lloyd Places Huge Container Order to Combat Global Box Shortage

German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has placed an order for 150,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers amid the pandemic-fueled container crunch in Asia and around the world.

The boxes, ordered from China, include both dry boxes and state-of-the-art reefer containers, as well as an additional 8,000 TEU of special containers to be used for over-sized or dangerous goods. The company says some of the boxes have already been delivered and integrated into its existing container fleet in the first quarter for 2021, but the majority of them are expected to be delivered in the upcoming months.

The investments amount to roughly USD 550 million making it one of the biggest container orders in the history of Hapag-Lloyd.

Strong shipping demand combined with trade imbalances have left shipping lines scrambling to reposition boxes to alleviate shortages that jeopardize exporters’ abilities to ship products overseas.

“The container shipping industry is currently seeing unprecedented demand, which has led to a shortage of containers all over the world. With its recent container orders, Hapag-Lloyd is contributing to efforts to ease the current situation and will be able to offer its customers a much better service,” says Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.

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