A report forecasts the global container fleet market to grow at a CAGR of 3.19% during the period 2017-2021. The report says key vendors in the market are Maersk, CMA CGM & MSC.
To calculate the market size, the report by Research and Markets considers volume based on container fleet capacity for the respective region or the container type.
It considers freight volume based on the freight volume shipped by the vendors operating in the market making use of the containers.
The latest trend gaining momentum in the market is increasing use of fleet management system.
Fleet management systems are formed by the integration of hardware, software, and communication technologies and act as a platform for fleet operators to help in efficient control, tracking, and monitoring of vehicles used for commercial purposes.
They improve the overall operational efficiency by reducing non-value added activities of the operators. Fuel cards are used for fuel management while driver safety systems monitor driver behavior.
According to the report, one of the major drivers for this market is growing intermodal freight transportation. Intermodal transportation is cost-efficient, easy to track and there are few idle periods.
It offers door-to-door delivery, a shorter delivery time, safety of the cargo, and the ability to use different routes. The intermodal freight transportation industry is introducing some major advances in technology such as ICT, computerized vehicle routing, active traffic management, and online freight exchange.
Further, the report states that one of the major factors hindering the growth of this market is trade imbalance causing low back-haul utilization rate.
Excessive import, as opposed to the volume of exports, leads to accumulation of empty containers and vice versa. This is called trade imbalance in the container shipping industry.
