Ocean Carrier Network Reduces Container Movement Costs for Better Street Turns

Maintaining control of its containers is a costly and challenging concern. Besides the cost of the container itself, simply moving a container costs money — whether it is full or empty. After being unloaded, the best practice is to reuse import containers for export shipments as quickly as possible to save time and money on two empty runs. When immediate reuse cannot be coordinated, the carrier must coordinate with a third-party trucker or rely on the shipper to schedule a trucker to return the container so it is available for outbound moves. This is a manually-intensive task that cuts into profit margins. The carrier network’s massive inventory of containers and the expansion into new regions made its leaders realize they needed better control over this expensive equipment. With teams all around the world managing empty equipment, it became essential for the organization to reduce inefficiencies caused by the inability to efficiently pair empty import containers with nearby shippers for exports.

Recently, numerous major shipping lines consolidated to form a single massive shipping network. The resulting holding company set up business operations in Asia and, today, boasts a fleet of over 200 vessels, including some of the world’s largest ships. The carrier network is now one of the largest in the world, covering over 120 countries and offering regular service to every continent except Antarctica. Operating at this scale requires significant investment in equipment, most notably the standard twenty-foot and forty-foot shipping containers used by ocean carriers. This carrier network manages over 1.5 million of these containers with a value of approximately $3 billion.