SIMIC

A year in the making, Mr Bentzel's 24-page report was provoked by acute shortages of chassis and containers that have hobbled intermodal operations in the US and restricted its export market in the wake of the pandemic, reports London's Loadstar.

"This report is important in what it represents - that as a country our maritime equipment and industry is increasingly dependent on China," said Mr Bentzel.

He noted that the three largest Chinese manufacturers controlled 86 per cent of the world's supply of intermodal chassis, and those same companies produced 95 per cent of all new containers, including US domestic 53 footers.

Mr Bentzel accused China's state-owned manufacturers of being "notably slow in ramping-up production" when demand for container shipping returned, and alleged that the limited flow of equipment was, in part caused by "the market manipulation of Chinese container manufacturers who jointly decided to reduce production".

He added: "While the US government has spent the past 40 years deregulating our transport industry, the Chinese government has used industrial policy planning to support Chinese firms in strategic sectors, including marine shipping and, specifically, to support its state-owned companies and entire industries.

"Our nation faces a fundamental policy question: should the shipping container be considered an essential piece of equipment by our country instead of being seen as a fungible commodity?"

According to consultant Drewry, a record 7.2 million TEU was added to the global container equipment fleet last year, taking the total to 50.5 million TEU.

Drewry said that, although China dominated the market accounting for about 97 per cent of production last year, there were two container manufacturers coming onstream in Vietnam this year that would, in due course, have a capacity of some one million TEU a year.