集装箱在哪儿

Where’s the box?

一些人认为,集装箱的短缺是真实存在的。对于其他人来说,这是一个在错误的时间、错误的地点出现的情况。对于所有人,这是一个沉重的代价。

For some,a true shortage exists. For others,it’s a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For all,it’s a heavy price to pay. Is it a shortage or a deployment problem? That’s the question surrounding the increasing frequency of complaints among importers and exporters abouta lack of container availability in a stronger-than-expected economic recovery and in inventory restocking. The questions over a container shortage are all the more vexing when one sees stacks of 20-,40- and 45-foot boxes in container yards from New York-New Jersey in the East to Los Angeles-Long Beach in the West—and when one considers container volumes are still well below pre-recession peaks. But therein lies part of the answer to the question of whether a shortage actually exists: Like the real estate mantra,it’s location,location,location. That is,a shortage of ocean containers in the U.S. Midwest may not exist in a load port such as Los Angeles.