Despite a shortage in Asia, shipping lines are reluctant to return enough empty containers from the United States and Europe, because of the costs involved, a shipping executive says.
Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) spokesman Stanley Shen said it was not simply a matter of transporting boxes from A to B and back again.
'There are thousands of variables and every time a container moves, it incurs some form of handling costs,' he said.
Trans-Pacific container lines, which imposed a temporary peak-season surcharge of US$300 per feu (40 ft equivalent unit) from August 17 to meet costs of repositioning empty containers, have extended the levy to November 30.
Handling costs at the shipper's end included container rentals per day, depot lift-on and lift-off charges, gate-in charge to terminals, terminal-handling charges, labour charge and others, Mr Shen said.
For refrigerated containers, there also were electricity charges. Containers also needed maintenance and repairs, which involved additional costs.