Equipment of the year at our inaugural, tongue in cheek Shipping Academy Awards goes to the forty-foot container, the first ever award won by a rectangular piece of steel. The award is given to the 40” unit for never being available in sufficient quantities when needed for exports.

Rolling shortages of equipment have ‘haunted’ many fronthaul trades over the years, but not as often as in 2020 and not as widespread. The stop-and-go exports containerised goods out of China into California and n...