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Nikkei: Mitsubishi HC Capital to invest approximately ¥200 billion in shipping containers

Mitsubishi HC Capital will invest approximately ¥200 billion (US$1.35 billion) this year in shipping containers through group company CAI International—the largest such purchase in 2024—Nikkei reported.

Tensions in the Middle East have caused container ships to avoid passage through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, extending the length of voyages and tightening market demand for containers while global maritime trade volumes remain strong.

The price tag includes orders placed for the entire year. This will total about 700,000 containers—about 20% of its total holdings at the end of last year.

Mitsubishi HC Capital has the world’s fourth-largest share of marine container leasing at 13%. The containers will be ordered by CAI International, a US company and global leader, and leased mainly to shipping companies in Europe and Asia.

Leasing companies own 50% of the world’s containers and supply them to shipping companies, which have needs that change according to market conditions and other factors.

Global container production in 2024 is expected to reach 5.79 million twenty-foot equivalent units—about 2.5 times the volume of the previous year—according to UK-based Drewry Research. This is the highest level since 2021, when the container market was booming due to the growth of transport volume driven by stay-at-home demand from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Separately, Drewry reported that airfreight continues to grow in popularity among international shippers as cost and congestion issues continue to impede ocean transport.

2024 has been a year of continued supply chain disruption for ocean freight shippers and has forced many to think and act creatively to alleviate the pressures on their global transport networks. With unreliable transit times and a myriad problems in ocean transport, airfreight has stepped-in and aided procurement teams at a time of need.

As congestion has plagued the ocean freight sector, Drewry has seen double digit growth in airfreight volumes, particularly out of Asia, but freighter capacity has remained buoyant enough to sustain this growth. Although rates have gone up, they have not matched the steep increases in ocean spot rates. Despite the demand boom in airfreight, between Dec-23 and Sep-24 the cost ratio between airfreight and ocean freight spot rates has narrowed from 25.9x to 5.6x.

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