A city that exports air : containers, traffic and logistics in Sydney's intermodal network and beyond

Since its introduction in the 1960s the standard shipping container has revolutionized global processes of transport, production and distribution. According to UK-based shipping consultants Drewry Maritime Research (2013), the global container fleet reached 32.9 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2012. Less often remarked is the high number of empty containers that circulate the world or remain stored in container parks at any time. Drewry Maritime Research (2011) estimates that in 2010 the worldwide traffic of empty containers from port to port exceeded 82 million TEUs. This figure is worrisome for its environmental and economic implications. Often presented as the symbol of logistical standardization and efficiency, the ship- ping container is also a material register of the inefficiency and excessive carbon burning inherent in current systems of global trade and production. Rodrigue (2013) estimates that for every 100 containers that enter the US, 50 are repositioned empty to foreign markets. Of the 50 that remain only five are reloaded and exported soon after delivery, leaving 45 to accumulate in empty container parks waiting for a load. This chapter examines the challenges surrounding empty containers and probes these challenges for what they tell us about the global economy and the changing forms of culture and society that surround what Tsing (2009) calls ‘supply chain capitalism’. Moving from a consideration of the labour regimes that enable container transport to an analysis of the geographical dimension of empty container mobilities, the aim is to discern how these coffins of labour power both streamline and hinder global logistical systems.