Lately, a shortage of shipping containers worldwide has been posing significant liquidity challenges to exporters globally, especially to those in the SME sector. Revealing this, MoneyControl.com, an online news and financial portal based in India, says that the disruption of international trade because of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a reduction in the number of active vessels in operation. This made containers scarce and very costly, which in turn has been delaying shipments and payments for small exporters across the world, thereby disturbing their cash-flow cycle. Furthermore, as banks are reluctant to lend to SME exporters doubting their repayment capabilities, some of them are facing a severe liquidity crunch.
