Empty container surplus is building at import-heavy destinations. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg all report yards close to storage limits, and the surplus is a lever for anyone who needs equipment at the other end.
Where empty containers accumulate
Trade is structurally unbalanced. Consumer markets receive large volumes of standard dry containers and ship out far fewer laden. The build-up shows at two clusters:
- US West Coast. Empty yards at Los Angeles and Long Beach are close to capacity.
- Northern European gateways. Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg stockpile as import returns outrun export bookings.
Using the surplus for one-way leases
An idle box in a depot costs storage every day and ties up capital. We coordinate depot-to-depot one-way leases that release empties at the surplus point and return them laden to a deficit port. The deficit end is described in the note on the 40ft high cube shortage in Asia.
For a shipper that means access to well-maintained equipment at a lower daily rate than a round-trip lease. For the owner it means the box comes back to where it earns without a container repositioning invoice, and the fleet rebalances while spot freight rates move.
The markets above change month to month. Tell us your lane through one-way leasing and we confirm which surplus depot can release for it.
