Supply difficulties and post-covid maritime transport crisis

This deep crisis that has hit the Western market in reference to supply and maritime transport difficulties to and from Asian markets began in August 2020.
One of the main causes of the current maritime traffic congestion is certainly the current pandemic. Covid-19, which has progressively spread to every corner of the globe, has had a. on the individual economies of the countries affected by this situation.
All this coincided with the pandemic period, in which many companies, seeing themselves closed for an indefinite period, tried to postpone (or cancel) the purchase and shipment of goods from Eastern markets, in order to avoid outlays of money and purchase of material at a time when there were no horizons of reopening of activities.
The shipping companies, in order to optimize loads and costs, have decided to concentrate departures, canceling several routes and reducing many others, in order to avoid trips with half-empty cargo ships. All this has caused enormous economic damage and several shipping companies have had to close, unable to meet the maintenance costs of their fleets.
Starting from August 2020, the market has gradually begun to recover, especially exports to the United States, however, unlike the European market where the replacement of containers is rather fast, in the USA the delivery of empties is much slower, mainly due to the geographical conformation of that continent. All this has caused a progressive decrease in the number of empties returning to China.
This situation has dragged on until now where, in addition to a reduced number of shipping companies that have resisted the pandemic, there is a lack of availability of containers directly in China. All this has led to an exponential increase in maritime transport costs, an increase that has been repeated throughout 2021.
There are also other forms of non-EU transport, such as by train or air; however, they both have disadvantages compared to sea transport, being more expensive and not exempt from the problem of lack of containers.
At this moment it seems, and we emphasize it seems, there is a slight decrease in costs and a parallel weakening of transport inconveniences: we hope it is a symptom of a return “to normality”. The only viable strategy, at this time, is to carry out a complex and continuous evaluation of the variables at play, carried out with industry experts who are able to anticipate any problems and advise importers on the best strategies to follow.