Empty Container Park (ECP)
An Empty Container Park (ECP) is a facility where empty shipping containers are received, stored, inspected and repaired between uses. After an import container is unpacked (de-hired), the shipping line directs it to a nominated ECP; export containers are collected from an ECP before being packed. In Australia, ECP movements are typically booked through the same 1-Stop platform used for terminal slots.
ECPs sit at the heart of container logistics: they manage de-hire and re-hire, condition surveys, cleaning and repair, and the redistribution of empties to where the next export demand is. Detention charges accrue while a container is off-hire but not yet returned to an ECP, making ECP scheduling time-critical.
Empties are an invisible but expensive part of the chain — a container spends much of its life empty, and the detention clock keeps running until it is de-hired at the right park. Efficient ECP scheduling (right park, right slot, on time) is how transport operators avoid detention and keep boxes cycling.
What is de-hire?
Returning an empty container to a nominated Empty Container Park after use, stopping detention charges from the shipping line.
Who nominates the ECP?
The shipping line specifies which park an empty container must be returned to, sometimes changing it at short notice.