The huge swings in containership deployment brought about by Donald Trump’s on/off trade war has seen rates rocket and congestion grow in recent weeks, however, unlike another great disruptor of the 2020s, covid, there is no box shortage this time.

Container manufacturing in China is at higher levels than 2024’s record figures. 

According to Linerlytica, an Asia-based consultancy, new container inventories in China climbed to a record high of 1.55m teu as of late May.

“Concerns over container shortages proved to be unfounded despite the delays in returning empty containers from Europe and North America given the ready availability of new boxes with both carriers and lessors taking advantage of the recent drop in new equipment prices to order more boxes,” Linerlytica noted in its most recent weekly report. 

Already more than 2.3m new containers have been produced this year, with Linerlytica forecasting that the massive production spurt will ensure there’s no repeat of the Chinese box inventory crisis of 2021 when inventories dropped to just 0.1m teu.