Container lessors spent an estimated $4 billion to acquire more than 1.6 million 20-foot equivalent units last year, according to the Institute of International Container Lessors, Journal of Commerce reports.Still recovering from more than $15 billion in losses in 2009, ocean carriers have relied more heavily on lessors for boxes needed to handle rising cargo demand.
Ship lines’ container fleets are traditionally divided as equally as possible between leased and owned boxes. The leased-owned ratio rose to about 3-to-2 last year, when an estimated 2.75 million TEUs of new containers were put into service.
The 1.6 million TEUs that leasing companies provided last year was on par with 2007 when production of new boxes hit a record 4.2 million TEUs.
“While many of the ocean carriers, the primary providers of containers in international trades, were concentrating their efforts on their core service activities, they turned to the international container leasing companies to source a significant portion of their container needs,” said IICL President Stephen R. Blust.
IICL said it expects up to 3.5 million TEUs to be produced this year to meet carriers’ growth requirements and replace equipment that is retired. Production in 2012 is estimated at 4.3 million TEUs by Containerisation International’s most recent Container Leasing Market Report.
IICL members represent companies that own or control more than 90 percent of leased containers.
Ship lines’ container fleets are traditionally divided as equally as possible between leased and owned boxes. The leased-owned ratio rose to about 3-to-2 last year, when an estimated 2.75 million TEUs of new containers were put into service.
The 1.6 million TEUs that leasing companies provided last year was on par with 2007 when production of new boxes hit a record 4.2 million TEUs.
“While many of the ocean carriers, the primary providers of containers in international trades, were concentrating their efforts on their core service activities, they turned to the international container leasing companies to source a significant portion of their container needs,” said IICL President Stephen R. Blust.
IICL said it expects up to 3.5 million TEUs to be produced this year to meet carriers’ growth requirements and replace equipment that is retired. Production in 2012 is estimated at 4.3 million TEUs by Containerisation International’s most recent Container Leasing Market Report.
IICL members represent companies that own or control more than 90 percent of leased containers.