The Financial Times argues that the containerization era, which revolutionized global ports, urban development, and international trade efficiency, is reaching its saturation point. While shipping containers have historically been a primary driver of globalization, the model is now encountering significant physical constraints on land.
This limitation is evident in various global ports. For example, the Port of Rotterdam reported flat container volumes in the first half of 2026, not due to weak demand, but because of a capacity shortage. The port is planning to add nearly 4 million TEU of new terminal capacity and rebuild the Yangtzekanaal to address these issues. Similarly, global port congestion is effectively removing 1.7 million TEU of container shipping capacity from the market due to delays.
The core issue is a paradoxical situation where there are more container ships and containers globally than ever before, but ports, terminals, and hinterland hubs are operating at their capacity limits. This is exacerbated by the arrival of "container tsunamis" from ever-larger ships, overwhelming infrastructure designed for smaller volumes. The strain extends beyond quays to terminal yards, trucking, rail, and inland waterways, leading to increased physical workload for terminals, particularly at import-oriented ports.
This capacity crunch means that the biggest challenge in logistics is no longer the availability of transport, but the effective development and management of scarce functional space in crucial hubs. This includes intelligent layout and technology. The bottlenecks are not at sea but on land, where cargo needs to be handled and stored, making functionally usable and flexible space the most critical resource in both maritime and land-based logistics. Consequently, freight rates are expected to remain volatile but at higher average levels due to these recurring bottlenecks.
