German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd is expanding its container fleet by five to ten percent, with 100,000 TEU already been added. This decision was made to counter growing turn times as shippers are forced to store boxes filled with consumer products or spare manufacturing parts in economies that are still mostly closed. Forwarders had already warned that cargo flows were becoming more uneven across key markets as the extensive blank sailings further influenced a natural container imbalance on headhaul and backhaul trades. Expanding the container fleet was necessary to ensure the availability of boxes, because shippers were holding onto boxes longer and the equipment imbalance was intensifying.