Containerization Growth Factors

The growth of containerization mainly lies on four major factors:

• Derived. Often labeled as organic growth; an outcome of economic and income growth where there is a growing quantity of freight in circulation. Additionally, globalization has relied through the exploitation of comparative advantages on a fragmentation of production that implied a growth of the average distance over which containerized freight is being carried. In both cases, greater containerized capacities are required.
• Substitution. Initially, substitution was the main factor behind the growth of containerization with the gradual capture of the break bulk cargo market. Since about 90% of the break-bulk cargo has been containerized this process is essentially completed, leaving the possible containerization of niche markets, namely commodities and temperature sensitive cargo (cold chain).
• Incidental. Containerized flows are almost never balanced, implying that empty containers must be repositioned to locations where export cargo is available. Thus, the more imbalanced the traffic is, the more containerized capacities are required. This also leaves opportunities to take advantage of empty back hauls and the lower freight rates they imply.
• Induced. Global freight distribution implies a transport chain where several modes are used to move cargo between its origin and destination. On the maritime segment, this has led to the emergence of intermediary hubs connecting different systems of circulation. This requires transshipment and consequently additional containerized capacities.

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