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A Third Of All Containers Shipped From Long Beach Port Are Empty

Tyler Durden's picture




 

In the past several months, it has been virtually impossible to make any sense of the conflicting trends involving US and global trade. On one hand, there is global trade, which as we have covered since the spring, has been in a state of consistent decline. Some example of this:

And of course China's terrible trade data for the past 5 months, which has seen the longest stretch of import declines since the financial crisis.

In short: only an economist, either a tenured one or one employed by CNBC, is unable to see that the world is sinking into a global trade recession, with a economic one soon to follow.

Where things get more complicated, however, is when looking at the US. Here, macro data throughout the summer had suggested more or less smooth sailing in the trade space, and it was only a week ago that the facade started to crack, following the ugly advance trade report, when as we reported there was a "16% Surge In August Trade Deficit; Imports Jump As Exports Drop."

But what really confused us, and others, was the "micro" reports from the ground. Take the following article from Bloomberg in September, in which we read that "Record Long Beach Port Traffic Shows Strength in U.S. Demand." Some more details:

The Port of Long Beach -- which is poised to overtake neighboring Los Angeles next year to become the No. 1 shipping gateway in the country -- had a record month in July, with cargo volume up 18 percent from July 2014. Figures being released later this month will show unprecedented traffic again in August, and early signs in September are “very very encouraging,” Jon Slangerup, the Long Beach port’s chief executive officer, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in New York last week.

 

Overall, the two ports are handling 4 percent more cargo this year than last, Slangerup said. With consumers showing no letup, he predicted a record year for Long Beach in 2015, taking out pre-recession highs set in 2007. West Coast ports are poised to regain share lost earlier in the year, when backlogs led clients to divert cargo to East Coast destinations like Savannah, Georgia, he said.

The article's punchline:

When you look at the macros, you look at unemployment, consumer confidence, savings, available discretionary spending, all of those numbers suggest that we have more to spend,” Slangerup said. “The economy here is super strong relative to the rest of the world, and the strongest I’ve seen it in a very long time.”

As it turns out, the economy was neither "super strong", nor was "unemployment, consumer confidence, savings, or available discretionary spending" suggesting that we have more to spend. In fact just the opposite, because thanks to the WSJ we can now reconcile the seeming discrepancy between slowing macro and booming micro, at least as manifested by "record" west coast port traffic.

According to the WSJ, "shipments of empty containers out of the U.S. are surging this year, highlighting the impact the economic slowdown in China is having on U.S. exporters. The U.S. imports more from China than it sends back, but certain American industries—including those that supply scrap metal and wastepaper—feed China’s industrial production."

The magnitude of the shipping container "contagion" is stunning: in September, the Port of Long Beach handled a near record 197,076 outbound empty boxes. "They accounted for nearly a third of all containers that moved through the port last month. September was the eighth straight month in which empty containers leaving Long Beach outnumbered those loaded with exports."

As the chart below shows, the situation at LA and Long Beach is so dire, the amount of empty container has surpassed the 2008 crisis period, and is about to take out the all time highs from the peak of the 2006 credit bubble:

 

And here is the "record" West Coast port traffic in all its unglory: as noted above, empty containers now amount to a third of all West Coast port traffic in the US.

 

What is an empty container? The WSJ explains that after under normal conditions, containers filled with consumer goods are delivered to the U.S. and unloaded, they return to export hubs. There, they typically are stuffed with American agricultural products, certain high-end consumer goods and large volumes of the heavy, bulk refuse that is recycled through China’s factories into products or packaging.

Not any more:

Last month, however, Long Beach and the Port of Oakland both reported double-digit gains in exports of empty containers. So far this year, empties at the two ports are up more than 20% from a year earlier.

A big reason for the collapse in trade is the strong dollar: the empties are shipping out at a faster rate at many U.S. ports, particularly those closely tied to trade with China, while shipments of containers loaded with goods are declining as exporters find it tougher to make foreign sales. That’s at least partly because the strong dollar makes American goods more expensive.

The problem is spreading:

Outbound empties have mounted this year at other big gateways, too. In August, the Port of Los Angeles, the country’s largest single container port, handled more than 225,000 empty outbound containers, counted in twenty-foot equivalent units, a standard maritime industry measure. That was 21% more than a year earlier. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expanded its empty-container exports nearly 31.5% in the first eight months of this year, and empties outnumbered loaded container exports over that time.

Suddenly the discrepancy between the ugly macro data and the

Dollar-based or not, the end result is the same - global trade channels are rapidly slowing down.

And it is not just empty containers that are being shipped out: overall containerized exports are also tumbling: "Long Beach’s containerized exports were down 8.2% this year through September, while Oakland’s volume of outbound loaded containers fell 12.7% from a year earlier in the January-September period."

This data certainly puts that "record" Long Beach port traffic in a different perspective. Others admit the same:

“This is a thermometer,” said Jock O’Connell, an international-trade economist at Beacon Economics. “The thing to worry about is if the trade imbalance starts to widen.”

It is starting to widen: the U.S. trade gap has expanded sharply in recent months as exports have slipped, growing 15.6% in August to a seasonally adjusted $48.3 billion, according to the Commerce Department. U.S. exports fell 2% in the month to their lowest level since October 2012.

And as a reminder, net trade feeds directly into GDP, so the next time an idiot tells you that there are no direct linkages or contagion choke points between China and the US, feel free to take them to the Long Beach and show them the thousands of empty boxes whose contents one can label  simply as "recession".

There is, however, a silver lining: if the containers remain empty, and once the US slides back into depression, they can always be used for housing, just like now in San Francisco's unicorn bubble mania.

 

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Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:19 | 6668073 BandGap
BandGap's picture

We stopped exporting our hope.

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:21 | 6668086 LowerSlowerDela...
LowerSlowerDelaware_LSD's picture

And are only left with a little bit of Change (you can believe in).

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6668107 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

The guy who invents foldable hinged shipping containers than can be collapsed and stacked is going to make a fortune...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:28 | 6668134 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Please don't use the word collapse.  Bad JuJu.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:33 | 6668169 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

I have a solution to this problem (because I'm a solution-oriented guy, as you all know):

Instead of shipping them back, melt them down and produce raw steel with them.  Adds to our GDP, creates jobs.  Then ship the steel over to China where they make the raw steel into shipping containers for sending out more goods.  Adds to their GDP, creates jobs.

There.  I just fixed the global economy AND the imbalance of trade in 5 minutes.  I'm gonna have a drink now.  I think I need one.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6668193 wizteknet
wizteknet's picture

While it does sound like a good ideal there is only one problem, we don't own the the containers in the first place.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:40 | 6668215 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Look, I'm a "big picture" guy.  I can't be dragged down into the details.  Just go make it happen.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:43 | 6668244 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

Donald?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:49 | 6668279 Tom Servo
Tom Servo's picture

I think we need to financialize the empty air.  It would be our greatest export!

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:56 | 6668300 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

They are working their way up from the trace gases like carbon dioxide first.

Next up on the bidding block is oxygen... I hear Soros and the UN/IMF/BIS are interested...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:56 | 6668328 nuubee
nuubee's picture

ZH, Tyler, empty containers from the Port of Long Beach or Port of Los Angeles, or San Francisco is nothing new, it's been this way for decades. It's called a "Trade Deficit". It is actually more profitable to keep those ships moving, even 1/3rd empty, than to have them sitting around doing nothing.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:33 | 6668469 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

I don't see why we should be sending ANY of these containers, our future middle class housing stock, back to Asia.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:43 | 6668544 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Nonsense.  America sells lots of services and the foreigners need something to put them in. 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:46 | 6668562 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

Well, yeah, there's that, also. 

I got a ton of ideas to move.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:05 | 6668669 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

The real laugh here is what is in the other 2/3s of the containers: recycled materials: paper, cardboard, electronics, batteries, bottles, and stock certificates.

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 02:29 | 6669982 monk27
monk27's picture

I don't get it, what are we suppose to fill those containers with anyway ? WHAT have our "exports" been for the last 20 years ?? Electronics "Made in USA", really ??? LOL!

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:17 | 6668692 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

Maybe they'll use all those empty containers to store the corpses of all the domestic terrorists before burial at sea.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:41 | 6668229 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

Or you could create a queer "financial product" called shipping futures. Traded back and forth by retarded coked out paper monkeys, this fantastic new product can "earn" hundreds of biilions and add positively to the GDP. #WINNING

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:50 | 6668288 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

Shipping futures... futures for an industry with NO future... PERFECT!

Where's Bylthe Masters when you need her...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:06 | 6668396 Ms. Erable
Ms. Erable's picture

A better solution would be to fill them with Mexicans/Guatemalans (they're small - they stack easily)/ Peurto Ricans/Cubans et. al. and ship them to China.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 22:16 | 6669611 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

Or at least stack them end to end along the US-Mexico border. Cut a doorway in each and spray paint "su casa" on each one.

Fri, 10/16/2015 - 22:47 | 6678012 SixIsNinE
SixIsNinE's picture

and the FDA approval to ship US chickens to China for processing and shipped back as variety food products ...   didn't Chinese buy out Tyson ?

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:32 | 6668172 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

"...in September, the Port of Long Beach handled a near record 197,076 outbound empty boxes. "They accounted for nearly a third of all containers that moved through the port last month. September was the eighth straight month in which empty containers leaving Long Beach outnumbered those loaded with exports."

 

Uh;... wait a minute...

If 1/3 of the containers are empty, that means 2/3 of the containers have something in them.

Since when does 1/3 "outnumber" 2/3?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:44 | 6668249 Yttrium Gold Ni...
Yttrium Gold Nitrogen's picture

I also noticed that, but I guess 1/3 comparison refers to all (inbound+outbound) containers, it follows from the phrase "They accounted for nearly a third of all containers that moved through the port last month."

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:45 | 6668561 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

The plot thickens. 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:45 | 6668257 longwood
longwood's picture

Since more than one third of containers that are loaded are inbound.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:47 | 6668267 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

I made up the numbers --

 

197,076 outbound empty

196,924 outbound full

over 1/2 empty outbound

 

200,000 Inbound full

 

197,076 + 196924 +200,000 = 594,000 total

 

197,076/594,000 = 33.1% almost 1/3

 

 

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:48 | 6668278 RichardP
RichardP's picture

... all containers that moved through the port ...

equals both inbound and outbound. 

2/3 of both inbound and outbound containers have something in them.

197,076 is one third of the containers that were both inbound and outbound.  Not one third of only the outbound.


Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:58 | 6668330 balanced
balanced's picture

[deleted] answered many times already, hah

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:02 | 6668362 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

inbound vs outbound vs total

rounded: 

200k empties out of 600k total monthly volume

300k import & 300k export 

so we imported imported 300k boxes and exported 100K boxes (of real stuff) and 200k empty BLS Hope N Changes...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:13 | 6668688 bonin006
bonin006's picture

It's that new math.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:16 | 6668698 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

That's so common core, and.............raycist!

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:59 | 6668347 CheapBastard
CheapBastard's picture

Is this "Liftoff"?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:18 | 6668462 reTARD
reTARD's picture

No worries... they're going to become new homes for the urban population.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:30 | 6668512 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

The Russians have much better uses for used empty shipping containers.

It's a small Klub and US ain't in it.

http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/ll_a_u/thumbs/2013/Dec/11/b1c2aeef2ad6_s...

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6668110 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

This has QE4 written all over it.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6668194 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

Why?

It's just pretty clear that America is exporting it's most precious commodity!

Air!!!

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:40 | 6668222 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Debt.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:01 | 6668358 undertow1141
undertow1141's picture

Can we add 'disease' behind Debt, so people understand what it really is.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:18 | 6668707 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

Too bad we couldn't export the FSA to China in those containers.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:48 | 6668271 o r c k
o r c k's picture

Loose change, change. For a change.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6668164 abyssinian
abyssinian's picture

Bullish!  fill them up with papers, ink and printers, Yellen will approve! 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 21:25 | 6669497 snodgrass
snodgrass's picture

We should stop shipping empty containers and turn them into homes like they have in San Francisco. Only $1,000 a month rent. A steal.

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 00:15 | 6669837 The central planners
The central planners's picture

The US DoD can fill those empty containers with oatmeal and drop it in the middle of the desert in Syria, and hope one of the good moderate folks go and find it.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:19 | 6668074 Pooper Popper
Pooper Popper's picture

Well shit,,I might as well get loaded and head to the brothel....

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:22 | 6668096 WVHillbilly
WVHillbilly's picture

You may want to leave the herbal viagra at home...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6668212 steveharless
steveharless's picture

yea...ask lamar odom.

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:02 | 6668365 undertow1141
undertow1141's picture

Musta be one hell of a hooker, left him crumbled on the floor, but don't fear the wookie is at his bedside.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:21 | 6668087 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Haven't these people considered setting the ship on fire and collecting on the insurance?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:42 | 6668238 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

They will now!

Thanks!

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:21 | 6668088 Gilnut
Gilnut's picture

Awesome the new housing boom.  Shipping container homes.

 

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/fifteen-amazing-shipping-container-homes/

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:29 | 6668141 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

Nice find!

I was thinking about cutting a 20 footer in half and using it as a security shed

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:21 | 6668091 researchfix
researchfix's picture

As China provides cheap (volouminous) thingies to US, it is absolutely believble, that these many containers go out empty for decades.

What was the question?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6668191 eurogold
eurogold's picture

They are not empty. U.S. is exporting smog in them

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:15 | 6668441 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

Our smog is considered to be fresh air in Shijiazhuang.

 

 


Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:22 | 6668093 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Export undesireables and free shitters !

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6668104 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

We are going to need a lot more containers.

 

 

 

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:32 | 6668167 semperfi
semperfi's picture

somebody's going to have to go back and get a shitload of dimes

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:16 | 6668176 HardlyZero
HardlyZero's picture

Not empty...full of hot air.

One day the emptyness will probably be "portable housing".

 

Thinking Outside the Box by Moving Into One

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/us/live-in-boxes-in-oakland-redefine-h...

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:26 | 6668501 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

We need the FSA, they are the only ones spending government money on Main Street.

No sarc.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:30 | 6668100 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

They are not empty -

 

We are shipping clean air to China.

 

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:33 | 6668174 Superdave532
Superdave532's picture

Not out of LA we're not 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6668105 Cthonic
Cthonic's picture

Deja vu, except this time 'round the Fed is at the zero bound, a Democrat is in the Whitehouse, and the Chinese aren't going on a Treasury buying spree...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6668106 Kaiser Sousa
Kaiser Sousa's picture

They make luxurious Tiny houses though....

 

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:41 | 6668195 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

Yes they do.

I was watching a program where an arctic researcher was living in a tent for several years conducting summer studies until a polar bear walked in. After that he got himself an 8 by 8 foot plywood shed.

He said that although the tent was fine... after the shed he could never go back to living in a tent.

We will all have to learn to live happily with less... probably a lot less... except for the bane of human civilization 'the bankers' and politicains of course. And anyone who dresses in expensive suits or robes.

Fri, 10/16/2015 - 22:55 | 6678034 SixIsNinE
SixIsNinE's picture

however the existing home base here in the usa is extraordinary ... we can be much more efficient, moving    forward  

 

i hear Monsanto et al is buying up gobs & gobs of farmland in the bulgaria romania, areas  to get people off the land and into cities, dependent upon food produced by others ...

off topic : the Amsterday Dance Event dj sets are being livestreamed on BEATPORT.com, very nice !


Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6668109 goldsaver
goldsaver's picture

The containers were not empty, they were filled with debt. USAs #1 export!

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:25 | 6668111 wizteknet
wizteknet's picture

How depressing or pathetic in other words.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:25 | 6668113 Make_Mine_A_Double
Make_Mine_A_Double's picture

That is because Kalifornia is what we call a 'one way' market. Imports only since they've virtually driven out any export oriented business other than trash, ahem...'waste paper' and some dried fruit and nuts (I know, but it's true - I'm not slagging them).

So when I bid on these contracts I insist on higher premiums for other trade lanes because it costs money to move empty boxes.

Cali is TOTALLY CONSUMPTION driven market.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:25 | 6668498 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Just Cali or maybe the entire USofA?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:26 | 6668124 Thisisbullishright
Thisisbullishright's picture

Should be called....

The hollow HULL of "global recovery".

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:26 | 6668129 Tyrone Shoelaces
Tyrone Shoelaces's picture

We should ship them containers full of Mexican illegals and FSA types.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:30 | 6668153 semperfi
semperfi's picture

and bankers, and lawyers, and the whole IRS, etc, etc...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:27 | 6668131 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Does it cost less to ship an empty container .... prolly not much .... but supply and demand would indicate a cheaper shipping rate .... and we still can't export our shit ?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:40 | 6668139 cowdiddly
cowdiddly's picture

With Vlads new  Kaliber play pretties a port full of empty containers right now is a good thing.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a79_1386750042

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M-54_Klub

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:40 | 6668225 wizteknet
wizteknet's picture

The Klub-K that was so cute & deadly.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:29 | 6668144 semperfi
semperfi's picture

well, maybe foreigners are buying shipping containers

should put those empty containers on crewless ship that's loaded up on top of a ship shipping ship

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6668156 bnbdnb
bnbdnb's picture

So? Fill them with reserve notes. Problem solved.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6668160 bankonzhongguo
bankonzhongguo's picture

This is why we MUST pass TPP - in order to ship even LESS.

Well I guess we can all convert all those empty containers into "Syrian" refugee housing units.

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:32 | 6668168 Monetas
Monetas's picture

They are full of industrial espionage, business secrets, copyright infringements, patent theft and trademark counterfeits ?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:32 | 6668173 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Empty containers, sort of like Fort Knox...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:33 | 6668177 Infinite QE
Infinite QE's picture

I thought they were all empty? Are the 2/3rds carrying cardboard and other recycled material?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:37 | 6668204 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Syrofoam squiggles.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:34 | 6668181 Monetas
Monetas's picture

If they are empty .... toss 'em in the drink .... and let them float home ?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:34 | 6668182 Batman11
Batman11's picture

We look at stock markets.

The value of the companies within the stock market.

 

We look at the companies themselves to see how they are doing.

 

Let's look at the global consumer base.

1) The once wealthy Western consumer has had all their high paying jobs off-shored. As a stop gap solution they were allowed to carry on consuming through debt. They are now maxed out on debt.

2) Japanese consumers have been living in a stagnant economy for decades.

3) Chinese and Eastern consumers were always poorly paid and with nonexistent welfare states are always saving for a rainy day. Western demand slumped in 2008 and the debt fuelled stop gap has now come to an end.

4) The Middle Eastern consumers are now too busy fighting each other to think about consuming anything and are just concerned with saying alive.

5) South American and African consumers are busy struggling with economies that are disintegrating fast.

Oh dear.

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6668192 Herdee
Herdee's picture

Start moving in all the Chinese labourers from Red China where all the jobs have gone because they all want to come over and bring in millions of Syrians as well.That way labour can be competitive with China and other foreign countries.Most only make anywhere from $3 dollars to $10 dollars a day anyways.You could re-establish modern day slavery in America.Get the whip out...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:48 | 6668274 Anopheles
Anopheles's picture

Slavery in the US wouldn't be profitable.   Government regulations would screw that up too.    Regulations for minimum housing standards, medical care, food and benefits would mean it would cost more to own slaves than hire minimum wage earners....  

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:22 | 6668483 83_vf_1100_c
83_vf_1100_c's picture

  Minimum wagers are fast figuring out they do better financially on the gov cheese line. Fuck off all day, smoke dope, get paid. Only in America (and most of Europe).

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6668209 HedgeAccordingly
HedgeAccordingly's picture

need to print more dollars .. ie ISSUE more US debt as well sa inflate the fed balance sheet in order to drive down the USD index. 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6668210 HedgeAccordingly
HedgeAccordingly's picture

uhh

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:42 | 6668233 tommylicious
tommylicious's picture

That LBC dude be smokin' too much of Da Chronic wit Snoop an' Dre.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:47 | 6668272 Catullus
Catullus's picture

Empty containers are awesome. It's just showing the rest of the world that they live and die by the dollar. You toil and work your ass off to send us stuff. You get nothing in return. Mwhahahaha. Fuck GDP. The balance of trade does not matter in a fiat monetary world. We export our dollars to which we have an unlimited ability to create more of. Who's the sucker here? I get stuff. You get diluted.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:49 | 6668283 My Days Are Get...
My Days Are Getting Fewer's picture

Why send an empty container back.  Scrap it and send it to the local mini mill for reprocessing into usable steel for GM and Ford.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:23 | 6668491 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Because it's cheaper to send them back than to make new ones, maybe?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:01 | 6668317 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

A guy I know bought two empty containers last year to put on his farm -  uses them to store his tractor and supplies .

 

They are pretty nice - they have hard wood floors in them - solid as hell -

 

 

 

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 15:58 | 6668342 Oldrepublic
Oldrepublic's picture

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/10/bill-bonner/are-you-prepared-for-financial-prohibition/

Bill Bonner posted this a few days ago on LewRockwell. He says that containers can be purchased for as low as $1500 and then turned into homes.

Also for any ZHers who would like to move to Asia, now is the time, should be able to bargain down the West bound  cost to Asia.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:00 | 6668346 atthelake
atthelake's picture

JWR thinks 50% of Americans could die when it hits the fan. STOCK UP NOW, if you can and hide it from looters, if you can.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:22 | 6668484 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

wtflol

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:04 | 6668381 StupidEarthlings
StupidEarthlings's picture

It's not easy to fit too many 'decent wage' middle class manufacturing jobs into those containers these days.

 

:/

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:05 | 6668384 Neochrome
Neochrome's picture

Figures being released later this month will show unprecedented traffic again in August, and early signs in September are “very very encouraging,” Jon Slangerup, the Long Beach port’s chief executive officer, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in New York last week.

 

Makes sense, is this the point where we start irrigation with Gatorade? Because electrolytes...

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:06 | 6668397 roisaber
roisaber's picture

They ran out of gold to ship to the Chinese.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:11 | 6668421 Magnum
Magnum's picture

Fatca , the Obama tax on enterprising American small businesses that have the wherewithal to export overseas, will cause a noted reduction in exports. California agriculture exports down due to drought.  

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:14 | 6668436 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

They ship the empty containers to the empty cities in China.

 

Makes sense, right?

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:20 | 6668473 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Wait, I've just been inspired, collapsible containers!  We'll make a fortune!  Wait, better yet, tie them together and put an outboard motor on the back, float them home by themselves!  Wait, oh this is it for sure, weld them together until we have a bridge from Long Beach to Shanghai!  Then Elon Musk can build a hyperloop inside!

You're welcome.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:21 | 6668476 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

They need to send them back empty to China otherwise they cannot return full of crap.

People are stupid, is what it is.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:21 | 6668481 kotfare17
kotfare17's picture

My prediction fulfilled.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 16:42 | 6668543 Starkman
Starkman's picture

"What is an empty container? . . . . they typically are stuffed with American agricultural products, certain high-end consumer goods and large volumes of the heavy, bulk refuse that is recycled through China’s factories into products or packaging."

We send our food, our...(what high-end consumer goods? We don't make anything! Oh, wait...weapon and space technologies, that's right), and recycables ("bulk refuse"..sure) turned into yet more Walmart-quality products.

Didn't see that coming, did we!


Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:30 | 6668738 TAALR Swift
TAALR Swift's picture

If you can't fill them with Natural Resources (Coal, Lumber, Wheat...), fill them with sand.

Then dump the sand-filled containers in a nice big ring, somewhere in the South China Sea. 

Tell the world you are preserving the Environment, making coral reefs and Eco-tourism for Chinese citizens.  For each destination build an airstrip, a control tower, solar desalination and power plant, hotel, hospital, and sophisticated Defense against Modern Pirates.  Maintain 12 NM boundary for security and marine life preservation reasons.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 17:35 | 6668765 scatha
scatha's picture

It's worse. Those containers empty or loaded with goods nobody wants are being dumped into the ocean for insurance money or just to diminish shipping capacity and raise margins. It is because not only China;s export collapsed by that China's import collapsed even more destroying already weak BDI .

An interesting take on the lies and fallacies of the global trade I found at:

https://contrarianopinion.wordpress.com/economy-update/

 

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 18:01 | 6668844 Monetas
Monetas's picture

We pretend to manufacture .... they pretend to buy our stuff !

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 18:34 | 6668959 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Home sweet home!

 

Not the shipping containers.

 

America... also known as "The World".

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 18:43 | 6668991 RopeADope
RopeADope's picture

Wasn't there a longshoreman strike on the west coast earlier in the year?

They had a backlog of empties to move out from that quarter where empties out had plunged. This means that the more recent months are going to be skewed higher by that one-time event.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 19:38 | 6669170 mijev
mijev's picture

The chinese are importing LA's smog because it will improve the air quality in Beijing.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 21:25 | 6669494 Iam_Silverman
Iam_Silverman's picture

This must be the result of lower oil prices.  Back when crude was over $100 a barrel, it was cheaper to NOT ship those empty containers back.  Now that the cost of shipping them has tumbled (per the article), I guess that they want them back now.  That is too bad.  It used to make for cheap all metal storage/housing solutions for the more industrious person.

I wonder how the higher shipping price (and thus retention and repurposing of empties) had skewed the data previously?

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 02:01 | 6669965 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

Interesting possibility.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 22:06 | 6669593 Who was that ma...
Who was that masked man's picture

Them containers ain't empty bro, they full of LA smog bein' sent to Beijing.  Heh heh.

Wed, 10/14/2015 - 23:26 | 6669758 FedFunnyMoney
FedFunnyMoney's picture

How do you cure low demand? A world war. Soon they will be melting the steel containers to make guns, tanks and bombs.

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 01:53 | 6669948 J Mahoney
J Mahoney's picture

Too many empty containers going back to China---Easy Solution

200,000 new Obama Syrian refugee terrorists and a 2 week supply of water and food and show them their new "Mobile Home".

 

Then the Federal Government will take the Planned Parenthood body part price list and determine each one of these terrorists were worth 1 million each so they need

to adjust up the GDP by 200,000,000,000,000

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 02:32 | 6669985 EBT excepted
EBT excepted's picture

da qwestshun be "id da cuntainuh steel emty when it wud arrived at da destinashun"?

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 02:47 | 6669999 hibou-Owl
hibou-Owl's picture

Take a look at the Total container chart above.

Every time the empties out number the full outbound, immediately after the total container rate drops by about 50%.

Also the empties have exceeded the fulls by quite a margin, Wal Mart needs to ditch a heap more employees.

Thu, 10/15/2015 - 05:43 | 6670104 Abbie Normal
Abbie Normal's picture

Look on the bright side -- at least all of the jobs being shipped overseas don't require containers.

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