“…Overall, most of the empty containers are transported over land (Konings, 2005) and it is often assumed that a container remains empty for more than half of its useful economic life, being under repair, maintenance or in transit (De Brito and Konings, 2008). Apart of this, there are also 1.5 to 2.5 million TEUs stored in the hinterland of seaports so that there is also a high space requirement, often resulting in a shortage of storage areas in ports (Vojdani and Lootz, 2011). "For the benefit of port operators, shippers and carriers, the number of empty boxes sitting at the terminals should ideally be nil or very few" (Boile et al, 2004).…”