Shipping Containers Market - Segmented by Size, Type, and Geography - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2018 - 2023)

Global Shipping Containers Market - Introduction

The global Shipping Containers market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period, owing to the rise in the global economy, leading to increase in the trade, in turn, boosting the demand for containers. The trade volume of the world has increased by 4.3% in 2017, and the global GDP witnessed a 3.8% rise in 2017. Owing to the factors, such as growing sea-borne trade, and the increasing trend of containerization of goods, a strong demand for shipping containers is anticipated in the forecast period. As of 2016, the share of the containerized goods in the total freight, in billion metric ton miles, stands at 15.7%.

Besides this, there exists a huge potential for shipping containers in the rail freight industry. However, the factors, such as protectionist measures by some nations and high freight rates in the transportation of containerized goods, are likely to restrain the growth up to some extent. In addition, the environmental regulations on using water-based coatings are also likely to incur some extra costs.

Growth of Seaborne Trade is Expected to Drive the Shipping Containers Market

The containerized transport of goods, by sea, accounts for almost 60% of the total sea-borne trade in the world (in terms of value), and this represents the high usage of containers in the sea freight transportation. Hence, the growth in the sea-borne trade is one of the significant factors that drive the shipping containers market.

Additionally, the growing number of container ships, and their capacity, also propels the demand for new containers. The global fleet of larger-sized vessels (i.e. greater than 8000 TEUs) grew by a substantial 4%, in terms of TEU capacity. Moreover, the global container fleet capacity grew by 1%, while the demand grew by 5%, which is nearly twice as much as in 2016.

Refrigerated Containers - to witness high growth

The sea-borne trade, through reefers, registered an increase of 5% in 2017, compared to the previous year, with a total of 124 million metric ton being transported. However, the average growth rate per year, during the last ten years, stands at 3.6%. The growth rate of the reefer traffic in 2017 is estimated at around 8%. The growth in the reefer traffic is faster than that of the overall containers trade, and this trend is expected to remain strong during the forecast period. The demand for the perishable goods is growing across the world, with the rise in the middle-class population and the income levels. This demand, along with the growth in the containerized trade, is driving the growth of the reefer containers market.

Additionally, the shift of the temperature-controlled cargo, from specialized vessels to reefer containers, offers the flexibility of transshipment, without loading and unloading during multimodal transportation. This is also expected to boost the market for the refrigerated containers in the forecast period. The specialized sector has a share of 20% in the total reefer trade through sea. However, this share is expected to fall to 14% by 2022, due to the shift to the container mode.

China - Market Leader

China dominates the global container production, as well as, the container trade. The total production output of the metal containers in China stood at 103.48 million cubic meter, in 2017. The production in 2018 (between January and April) reached 36.354 million cubic meter, growing by 25%. China accounts for more than 90% of the world’s container manufacturing, with an advantage of low labor cost.

The country stands at top of the container trade as a net exporter, and is followed by the United States. Additionally, China is the world leader, in terms of the container throughput in the sea ports. Shanghai port is the top container port in the world, with its throughput growing by 8.4% in 2017, reaching 40 million TEUs. As the largest exporter, the country plays an important role in the trade between Asia and other countries. Most of the TEUs shipped are east bound, from Asia to North America (among the four container trade routes).

Key Developments in Global Shipping Containers Market

• March 2018: Carrier Transicold and Singamas Container Holdings Ltd launched PrimeLINE ONE, with a joint initiative, a new refrigerated shipping container. The PrimeLINE ONE container provides the benefits of assembly on-site, with an alternative to the traditional approach of bolting a complete refrigeration system to the front end of an insulated shipping container.
• March 2018: An agreement was formed between CIMC Container and Siasun Robot & Automation Co. Ltd (Siasun), to cooperate in the field of intelligent manufacturing. Upon finalization of the agreement, the “Flying Dragon Plan” of CIMC Container is expected to get its production lines renovated and upgraded.
• October 2017: A joint venture by Shenzhen ZhongHong Equipment Technology was formed by China International Marine Containers (CIMC), ASTO Telematics, and HongYi Hi-Tech that is expected to work on providing smart container components.

Key Players in Global Shipping Containers Market 

TLS Offshore Containers International Pvt Ltd, China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd (CIMC), Maersk Container Industry AS, W&K Containers Inc., Singamas Container Holdings Limited, YMC Container Solutions, Sea Box Inc., Dong Fang International Container (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd / Oriental International, CXIC (Changzhou Xinhuachang International Containers Co. Ltd) Group Containers Company Limited, Storstac Inc., and others.

Global Shipping Containers Market Report Summary

Reasons to Purchase the Report

• To study current and future market outlook in the developed and emerging markets
• Analyzing various perspectives of the market, with the help of Porter’s five forces analysis
• Detailed analysis of the segment that is expected to dominate the market
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• Identify the latest developments, market shares, and strategies employed by the major market players
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