A container depot serves as a storage area for empty shipping containers and can be situated within a container terminal, a port facility, or a hinterland location known as an Inland Container Depot (ICD). Inland container depots function as hinterland hubs that balance capacity peaks and bottlenecks in seaports, and can also serve as storage buffers or concentration points. Container depots are vital to the container supply chain as they offer storage capacity and additional storage options, which help to maximize efficiency rates and space productivity in container terminals.
Empty containers owned by container leasing or shipping companies are stored at container depots, where they undergo safety checks and maintenance. Exporters can acquire empty containers from the depots, and importers can return empty ones. Container depots also offer a range of services such as cleaning and repair, fumigation, commercial and bonded warehousing, inland clearance depots, container sales, transportation, and more. A cloud-based TOS system can manage a container terminal as well as a container depot located in the hinterland of a seaport.
