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CONTAINER SALES & LEASING · NPSA ASSOCIATE MEMBER SINCE 2005
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— Lead times

Factory production space has moved to January.

An order placed now is a first-quarter delivery, and the next space offered will be further out than this one. Inventory already in our US depots is ready to go today.

The market

Three things have moved.

  1. 01 Space

    January is the earliest off-line date on offer.

    The major Chinese factories are quoting January off-line dates for new 40ʹ high-cube production. At least one has stopped quoting altogether for anything shipping before Chinese New Year in early February.

  2. 02 Price

    New-build quotes have risen through the year.

    Factory pricing has moved up steadily across 2026.

  3. 03 Equipment

    Boxes are tight at the origin ports.

    Carriers are reporting shortages of 40ʹ and 45ʹ high-cube equipment at Asian origins, and space out of South China has been assessed as very tight across the major lines on both US coasts.

Published . Conditions assessed September 2026 from our Shanghai representative office and published carrier space and equipment reporting. Production lead times and origin equipment availability move week to week — ask us for the current position before you plan around it.

Two ways to buy

Both worth doing now.

Most operators we work with are doing both — covering immediate demand from the ground while booking production space for the first quarter, so there is no gap between the two.

For the first quarter and beyond

Place a factory order

Built to your specification under our own OWLU® BIC prefix, CSC-plated and surveyed before it leaves the line.

  1. Fix specification, color and markings
  2. Secure production space — currently January
  3. Ocean move to the destination you nominate
Why now

Every week of delay pushes the off-line date further out, and the production space you are quoted today is the earliest you will be offered.

Factory production →

For right now

Buy from depot stock

New, cargo-worthy and IICL units already in US depots.

  1. Pick the unit from live depot inventory
  2. Collect from the depot, or we deliver
Why now

Ground stock is finite and is being replaced from a market that costs more and lands later than the one that filled it.

Live inventory →

Stock across 12 US cities and 14 depots. The live inventory matrix is the source of truth for what is releasable today — not this page.

— Ready when you are

Book the space, take the stock, or both.