Box crunch likely to resurface

Box crunch likely to resurface    Shippers could again face a shortage of containers this year as demand for Asian goods ramps up faster than Chinese container manufacturers can increase supply, according to a note from maritime news service Alphaliner.
   The ratio of box inventory-to-vessel capacity is forecast to drop to 1.99 by the end of 2011, from 2.03 at the end of 2010, due to a number of factors. A paucity of orders in 2009 during the demand downturn, strained the global fleet of boxes, and even though production has begun again, a shortage of skilled laborers is plaguing Chinese manufacturers.
   Alphaliner's report estimated that factories are running at 66 percent of capacity due to the labor shortage, while prices have reached a more than two-decade-high, at $3,000 for a 20-foot dry container. Those are the 'highest levels seen since the early 1980s' before the shift in manufacturing from western countries to low-cost Far East locations, Alphaliner said.