How a Global Shortage Turned Into a Shipping Container Glut

In late February, the Taicang factory of China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. Ltd. was unusually quiet. Only a few delivery trucks loaded with steel plates parked in front of a gate for incoming materials. The gate for container deliveries was closed.

Inside the plant, a worker was operating a machine to pile up newly built containers six layers high. Since 2022, new containers have stacked up in the plant, which has annual capacity to produce 700,000 standard containers. Only one of the three production lines is in operation, and three daily work shifts have been reduced to one, a worker told Caixin.