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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

OR

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report _____________________

For the transition period from _______ to _______

Commission file number 001-33725

Textainer Group Holdings Limited

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Bermuda

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

Century House, 16 Par-La-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 08, Bermuda

(Address of principal executive offices)

Adam Hopkin

Textainer Group Holdings Limited

Century House, 16 Par-La-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 08, Bermuda

(441) 296-2500

ahh@textainer.com

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

 

Title of each class

Trading Symbol(s)

Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Shares, $0.01 par value

TGH

New York Stock Exchange

7.00% Series A Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preference Shares, $0.01 par value

TGH PRA

New York Stock Exchange

6.25% Series B Fixed Rate Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preference Shares, $0.01 par value

TGH PRB

New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act: None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

43,634,655 Common Shares

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “accelerated filer”, “large accelerated filer” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.:

Large accelerated filer Accelerated filer Non-accelerated filer Emerging growth company

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

U.S. GAAP International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board Other

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. Item 17 Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes No

Auditor Firm Id:

34

Auditor Name:

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Auditor Location:

San Francisco, California

 

 


TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

Page

Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements; Cautionary Language

 

1

Part I

 

 

Item 1.

 

Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

 

2

Item 2.

 

Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

 

2

Item 3.

 

Key Information

 

2

Item 4.

 

Information on the Company

 

29

Item 4A.

 

Unresolved Staff Comments

 

40

Item 5.

 

Operating and Financial Review and Prospects

 

41

Item 6.

 

Directors, Senior Management and Employees

 

54

Item 7.

 

Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions

 

59

Item 8.

 

Financial Information

 

63

Item 9.

 

The Offer and Listing

 

64

Item 10.

 

Additional Information

 

64

Item 11.

 

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

 

73

Item 12.

 

Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities

 

74

PART II

 

 

Item 13.

 

Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies

 

75

Item 14.

 

Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds

 

75

Item 15.

 

Controls and Procedures

 

75

Item 16.

 

[Reserved]

 

76

Item 16A.

 

Audit Committee Financial Expert

 

76

Item 16B.

 

Code of Ethics

 

76

Item 16C.

 

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

 

77

Item 16D.

 

Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees

 

77

Item 16E.

 

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

 

77

Item 16F.

 

Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant

 

79

Item 16G.

 

Corporate Governance

 

79

Item 16H.

 

Mine Safety Disclosure

 

81

Item 16I.

 

Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections

 

81

PART III

 

 

 

 

Item 17.

 

Financial Statements

 

82

Item 18.

 

Financial Statements

 

82

Item 19.

 

Exhibits

 

82

Signatures

 

 

 

113

 

 

In this Annual Report on Form 20-F, unless indicated otherwise, references to: (1) “Textainer,” “TGH,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer, as the context requires, to Textainer Group Holdings Limited, which is the registrant and the issuer of the class of common and preferred shares that has been registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Textainer Group Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries; (2) “TEU” refers to a “Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit,” which is a unit of measurement used in the container shipping industry to compare shipping containers of various lengths to a standard 20′ dry freight container, thus a 20′ container is one TEU and a 40′ container is two TEU; (3) “CEU” refers to a Cost Equivalent Unit, which is a unit of measurement based on the approximate cost of a container relative to the cost of a standard 20′ dry freight container, so the cost of a standard 20′ dry freight container is one CEU; the cost of a 40′ dry freight container is 1.6 CEU; the cost of a 40′ high cube dry freight container (9′6″ high) is 1.7 CEU; and the cost of a 40’ high cube refrigerated container is 8.0 CEU; (4) “our owned fleet” means the containers we own; (5) “our managed fleet” means the containers we manage that are owned by other Container Investors; (6) “our fleet” and “our total fleet” mean our owned fleet plus our managed fleet plus any containers we lease from other lessors; and (7) “Container Investors” means the owners of the containers in our managed fleet.

Dollar amounts in this Annual Report on Form 20-F are expressed in thousands, unless otherwise indicated.

 


 

INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS; CAUTIONARY LANGUAGE

This Annual Report on Form 20-F, including the sections entitled Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors,” and Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects,” contains forward-looking statements within the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not statements of historical facts and may relate to, but are not limited to, expectations or estimates of future operating results or financial performance, capital expenditures, introduction of new products, regulatory compliance, plans for growth and future operations, as well as assumptions relating to the foregoing. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “intend,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar terminology.

Although we do not make forward-looking statements unless we believe we have a reasonable basis for doing so, we cannot guarantee their accuracy, and actual results may differ materially from those we anticipated due to a number of uncertainties, many of which cannot be foreseen. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including, among others, the risks we face that are described in the section entitled Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

We believe that it is important to communicate our future expectations to potential investors, shareholders and other readers. However, there may be events in the future that we are not able to accurately predict or control and that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in or implied by our forward-looking statements. The risk factors listed in Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors,” as well as any cautionary language in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, provide examples of risks, uncertainties and events that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations we describe in our forward-looking statements. Before you decide to buy, hold or sell our common shares, you should be aware that the occurrence of the events described in Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F could negatively impact our business, cash flows, results of operations, financial condition and share price. Potential investors, shareholders and other readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements regarding our present plans or expectations involve risks and uncertainties relative to return expectations and related allocation of resources and changing economic or competitive conditions which could cause actual results to differ from present plans or expectations, and such differences could be material. Similarly, forward-looking statements regarding our present expectations for operating results and cash flow involve risks and uncertainties related to factors such as utilization rates, per diem rates, container prices, demand for containers by container shipping lines, supply, the magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and other factors discussed under Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors” or elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, which could also cause actual results to differ from present plans. Such differences could be material.

All future written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and we cannot predict those events or how they may affect us. We assume no obligation to, and do not plan to, update any forward-looking statements after the date of this Annual Report on Form 20-F as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by federal securities laws. You should read this Annual Report on Form 20-F and the documents that we reference and have filed as exhibits with the understanding that we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements and that actual results may differ materially from what we expect.

Industry data and other statistical information used in this Annual Report on Form 20-F are based on independent publications, reports by market research firms or other published independent sources. Good faith estimates are used for some data that is derived from our review of internal surveys and the independent sources listed above. Although we believe these sources are reliable, we have not independently verified the information.

In this Annual Report on Form 20-F, unless otherwise specified, all monetary amounts are in U.S. dollars. To the extent that any monetary amounts are not denominated in U.S. dollars, they have been translated into U.S. dollars in accordance with our accounting policies as described in Item 18, “Financial Statements” in this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

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PART I

ITEM 1. IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2. OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not applicable.

ITEM 3. KEY INFORMATION

A.
[Reserved]
B.
Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C.
Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D.
Risk Factors

An investment in our common or preferred shares involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with the other information contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, including our financial statements and the related notes thereto, before you decide to buy, hold or sell our common or preferred shares. Any of the risk factors we describe below could adversely affect our business, cash flows, results of operations and financial condition. The market price of our common or preferred shares could decline and you may lose some or all of your investment if one or more of these risks and uncertainties develop into actual events.

 

Summary of Risks Related to the Company and Investment in our Shares

The following is a summary of the risks related to our Company and your investment in our shares. You are encouraged to review all of the risk factors that follow for more detailed information and discussion of how these risks and other risks related to our company and shares may impact us:

The demand, pricing and utilization of our leased containers depends on many factors beyond our control, including global economic conditions, economic stability, new container prices, prevailing lease rates, freight demand, international trade and trade barriers, environmental regulations, industry consolidation and other factors.

 

Our results may fluctuate based on risks associated with re-leasing containers after their initial long-term lease and gains and losses associated with the disposition or trading of used equipment. Credit events such as lease defaults, which are enhanced due to our reliance on a limited number of lessees can also impact our results.

 

2


 

Our business and capital structure rely on a significant amount of debt and our indebtedness reduces our financial flexibility and could impede our ability to operate. We own the substantial majority of our containers and they are largely financed with debt. Our ability to service our debt and fund future capital expenditures, depends on many factors beyond our control. Our debt facilities have significant covenants and we rely on hedging with the use of derivatives which has risks.

 

We face various operational and competitive risks which include costs to reposition our containers, surpluses of containers and a lack of storage space could negatively impact us, consolidation or disruptions with container manufacturers could harm our business, competition in the container leasing industry and our lessees may decide to buy, rather than lease their containers.

 

The international nature of the container shipping industry exposes us to numerous risks, additionally terrorist attacks, the threat of such attacks or the outbreak of war and hostilities could negatively impact us, risks from the political and economic policies of China, its legal system and China’s economic activity, exchange rate fluctuations, cargo security regulations and the lack of an international title registry for containers could have an adverse impact on us.

 

We face a number of other business risks including IT system risks, cyber-attack and security breaches, insurance risks, U.S. government contracting risks, risks from acquisitions and joint ventures, risks from attracting and retaining senior executives, environmental regulations, risks from our investments with Trifleet Leasing, and risks from U.S. laws that impact our international operations.

 

There are a number of tax risks related to our business and shares, these include (i) U.S. investors in our company could suffer adverse tax consequences if we are characterized as a passive foreign investment company (ii) we may become subject to unanticipated tax liabilities, (iii) our U.S. subsidiaries may be treated as personal holding companies for U.S. federal tax purposes, (iv) our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations, (v) and the calculation of our income tax expense requires judgment and the use of estimates.

 

There are a number of risks related to our shares and public listings, including (i) any dividends paid in the future could be reduced or eliminated, (ii) we face risks from our share repurchase program, (iii) the market price and trading volume of our common and preferred shares, which may be affected by market conditions beyond our control, have been volatile and could continue to remain volatile, (iv) risks related to our dual listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, (v) we face risks in relation to our continued compliance with corporate governance and financial reporting obligations, (vi) future sales of a large number of our securities into the public market, or the expectation of such sales, could cause the market price of our common and preferred shares to decline significantly, (vii) we have provisions in our bye-laws that may discourage a change of control, (viii) you may have greater difficulties in protecting your interests than as a shareholder of a U.S. or South African corporation, and (ix) our bye-laws restrict shareholders from bringing legal action against our officers and directors.

 

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry Which May be Beyond Our Control

The demand and pricing for leased containers depends on many factors beyond our control.

Substantially all of our revenue derives from activities related to the leasing, managing and selling of containers. Our ability to continue successfully leasing containers to container shipping lines, earning management fees on leased containers, selling used containers and sourcing capital required to purchase new and used containers depends, in part, upon the continued demand to lease containers and purchase used containers.

3


 

Demand for leased containers depends largely on the rate of growth of world trade and economic growth, with worldwide consumer demand being the most critical factor affecting this growth. Demand for leased containers is also driven by our customers’ “lease vs. buy” decisions. In the past, economic downturns in the U.S., Europe, Asia and countries with consumer-oriented economies have resulted in a reduction in the rate of growth of world trade and demand by container shipping lines for leased containers and it is likely that any future downturns would have similar results. Thus, a decrease in world trade can and has adversely affected our utilization and per diem rates and led to reduced revenue and increased operating expenses (such as storage and repositioning costs) and can have an adverse effect on our financial performance. We cannot predict whether, or when, such downturns will occur or the severity or duration of any downturn. Other material factors affecting demand for leased containers, utilization and per diem rates include the following:

prices of new and used containers;
economic conditions, profitability, competitive pressures and consolidation in the container shipping and container leasing industry;
shifting trends and patterns of cargo traffic;
fluctuations in demand for containerized goods outside their area of production;
the availability and terms of container financing for us, our competitors and customers;
fluctuations in interest rates and currency exchange rates;
overcapacity, undercapacity and consolidation of container manufacturers;
the lead times required to purchase containers;
the number of containers purchased in the current year and prior years by competitors and container lessees and container inventory levels;
container ship fleet overcapacity or undercapacity;
repositioning by container shipping lines of their own empty containers to higher demand locations in lieu of leasing containers;
port congestion and the efficient movement of containers as affected by labor disputes, work stoppages, increased vessel size, shipping line alliances or other factors that reduce or increase the speed at which containers are handled;
consolidation, withdrawal or insolvency of individual container shipping lines;
actual or threatened import/export tariffs, duties, restrictions or trade disputes;
depot capacity and storage fees and container handling and repair costs;
customs procedures, foreign exchange controls and other governmental regulations, including environmental or maritime rules that impact container shipping;
natural disasters, war or events that are severe enough to affect local and global economies or interfere with trade, such as the Novel Coronavirus (or “COVID-19”) pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war; and
other political and economic factors.

Many of these and other factors affecting the container industry are inherently unpredictable and beyond our control. These factors will vary over time, often quickly and unpredictably, and any change in one or more of these factors may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, many of these factors also influence the decision by container shipping lines to lease or buy containers. Should one or more of these factors influence container shipping lines to buy a larger percentage of the containers they operate, our utilization rate and/or per diems could decrease, resulting in decreased revenue and increased storage and repositioning costs, which would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

4


 

Global economic weakness has in the past and may in the future materially and negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows, financial condition and future prospects.

The continued sustainability of international economic growth is uncertain particularly due to the ongoing Novel Coronavirus pandemic which created severe economic contractions and rebounds from 2020 to 2022. The Novel Coronavirus pandemic increased container trade demand and shipping lines’ financial performance; however the continued strength and duration of this demand is uncertain as the congestion and economic stimulus that dramatically increased freight rates have normalized and lease rates and new and used container prices have declined.

Uncertainties relating to Novel Coronavirus include the duration of the outbreak, the countries impacted by the outbreak, recurrence or changes in the scope of the outbreak, and actions that may be taken to contain or treat its impact, by governments and others, including vaccine and medical prevention and treatment developments, declarations of states of emergency, business closures, manufacturing restrictions and a prolonged period of travel and/or other similar restrictions and limitations. Disruptions from the Novel Coronavirus or reduced container and/or container trade demand following heavy container investment during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 may lead to increased future credit concerns regarding our customers, reduced container demand, lower utilization of our fleet, lower lease rates, lower sale prices for our used containers, disruptions in the capital markets, increased risk of non-compliance with our debt covenants and operational and business process disruptions for us and our customers.

Any slowdown or reversal of the U.S. and global trade growth due to the Novel Coronavirus or otherwise could heighten a number of material risks to our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, as well as our future prospects, including the following:

Containerized cargo volume growth – A contraction or slowdown in containerized cargo volume growth would likely create lower utilization, higher direct costs, weaker shipping lines going out of business, pressure for us to offer lease concessions and lead to a reduction in the size of our customers’ container fleets.
Credit availability and access to equity markets – Issues involving liquidity and capital adequacy affecting lenders could affect our ability to fully access our credit facilities or obtain additional debt and could affect the ability of our lenders to meet their funding requirements when we need to borrow. Further, a high level of volatility in the equity markets could make it difficult for us to access the equity markets for additional capital at attractive prices, if at all. If we are unable to obtain credit or access the capital markets, our business could be negatively impacted.

Lease and/or utilization rates may decrease, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We compete mostly on the pricing and the availability of containers. Lease rates for our containers depend on a large number of factors, including the following:

the supply of, and demand for, containers available;
the price of new containers (which is positively but not exclusively correlated with the price of steel);
the type and length of the lease;
interest rates and the availability of financing for leasing companies and shipping lines;
assumptions regarding residual value and future lease pricing;
the type and age of the container;
the location of the container being leased;
the quantity of containers available for lease by our competitors; and
lease rates offered by our competitors.

Most of these factors are beyond our control. From late 2018 until the middle of 2020 steel prices, container prices and lease rates generally declined and demand for new containers also declined given trade disputes and the emergence of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. From the middle of 2020 until early 2022, steel prices, container prices and lease rates all materially escalated as cargo and container demand increased. In 2021, record levels of containers were produced at very high prices to satisfy industry demand and the demand created from congestion and trade disruptions. Container demand and

5


 

trade congestion were reduced in 2022 with approximately half as many containers produced in 2022 than in 2021. The resolution of trade disruptions, moderation in demand for goods upon the mitigation of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic and lower steel prices has caused container prices and lease rates to decline. In addition, lease rates can be negatively impacted by, among other things, the entrance of new leasing companies or container factories, overproduction of new containers by factories and the over-buying by shipping lines, leasing companies and tax-driven container investors. If future market lease rates decrease or return to historically low levels, revenues generated by our fleet will be adversely affected, which will harm our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. Container utilization rates for us and our competitors increased in 2020 and are currently at very high levels by historical standards. If future container returns increase or utilization rates decrease, revenues generated by our fleet will be adversely affected, which will harm our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Reductions in the prices of new containers would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Lease rates for new containers are positively but not exclusively correlated to the price of new containers, which is positively correlated with the price of steel, a major component used in the manufacture of new containers. In the past five years, prices for new standard 20’ dry freight containers have moved in a wide range, with prices ranging between $1,598 and $3,790 during this time. Our average new container cost per CEU decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 as container prices decreased due to lower steel costs, lower container demand and reduced prices from factories. Container prices increased from 2016 to late 2018 and then declined until early 2020 when increases resumed and prices were at historically high levels in 2021. If new container prices decline, the lease rates achievable when older, off-lease containers are leased out will also decrease and the prices obtained for containers sold at the end of their useful lives may also decrease. From late 2018 until early 2020, we generally saw new container pricing and lease rates decline, and these trends reversed for the rest of 2020 and through 2021. In 2022 new container prices and lease rates declined with a low level of market activity in the second half of the year. A decline in new container prices causes low market lease rates and low resale values for containers, which have and may in the future adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, even if low new container prices allow us to purchase new containers at a lower cost.

We derive a substantial portion of our lease rental income from a limited number of container lessees, and the loss of, or reduction in business, by any of these container lessees could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have derived, and believe that we will continue to derive, a significant portion of lease rental income and cash flow from a limited number of container lessees. Lease revenues from our 20 largest container lessees represented approximately $715 million or 88.3% of the total lease rental income during 2022. Our three largest customers in 2022 were Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., which accounted for $198 million or 24.4%, CMA-CGM S.A., which accounted for $95 million or 11.7%, and COSCO Shipping Lines, which accounted for $87 million or 10.8% of our total lease rental income. Due to the ongoing consolidation in the shipping line industry, our 20 largest container lessees are becoming an increasing percentage of our total revenue, with correspondingly increased concentration of credit risk. Given the high concentration of our customer base, a default by any of our largest customers would result in a major reduction in leasing revenue, large repossession expenses, potentially large lost equipment charges and a material adverse impact on our performance and financial condition.

The use of very large container ships (18,000 TEU+) on the major trade lanes may lead to further industry consolidation and shipping line alliance participation, and even greater reliance by us on our largest customers, and may negatively impact the performance of smaller and mid-size shipping lines. Several of the largest shipping lines have invested heavily in these very large ships and reportedly have achieved meaningful unit cost advantages and increased market share on the major trade lanes. In response, some smaller shipping lines have started to exit the major trade lanes, while others are seeking to form closer operating partnerships. Additionally, shipping lines have used some of their substantial profits from 2020 to 2022 to purchase significant numbers of new and used container ships. The delivery of significant new ship capacity without trade growth or the retirement of older ships could result in substantial overcapacity, lower freight rates, lower shipping line profits and increased credit risk for us.

6


 

Consolidation, shipping line alliances, and concentration in the container shipping industry could decrease the demand for leased containers or warrant regulatory actions.

We primarily lease containers to container shipping lines. The container shipping lines have historically relied on a large number of leased containers to satisfy their needs. The shipping industry has been consolidating for a number of years, and further consolidation is possible. Historically, shipping lines have also formed a number of alliances to share vessel space and the creation of new alliances and changes in the membership of each alliance is ongoing. Consolidation of major container shipping lines and growth of alliances could create efficiencies and decrease the demand that container shipping lines have for leased containers because they may be able to fulfill a larger portion of their needs through their owned container fleets. Consolidation could also create concentration of credit risk if the number of our container lessees decreases. If shipping line alliances are effective at making shipping lines more efficient, this could reduce the demand for containers. The growth of alliances may add pressure to those shipping lines that do not join an alliance as they may find it more difficult to cost effectively serve shippers needs and/or shippers may choose to only ship cargo with alliances due to solvency concerns or otherwise. Shifts and changes in shipping line alliances may also cause industry disruption and may change competitive dynamics which could adversely impact shipping lines and potentially adversely impact our business. Additionally, large container shipping lines with significant resources could choose to manufacture or purchase their own containers, which would decrease their demand for leased containers and could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Significant increases in freight rates during the COVID-19 pandemic have attracted scrutiny of the shipping industry by regulators. United States and international antitrust regulators have announced increased resources devoted to investigating possible collusion or anti-competitive behavior by shipping lines. Penalties on the industry or increased regulation of the industry may adversely affect our customers, impact their financial resources and/or reduce the demand for shipping containers which could negatively impact our operations and results.

The demand for leased containers is partially tied to international trade. If this demand were to decrease due to increased barriers to trade, or for any other reason, it could reduce demand for intermodal container leasing, which would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

A substantial portion of our containers are used in trade involving goods being shipped from the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC” or “China”) and other Asian countries to the United States, Europe, Latin America or other regions and within Asia. The willingness and ability of international consumers to purchase foreign goods is dependent on political support, in the United States, Europe, Latin America and other countries, for an absence of government-imposed barriers to international trade in goods and services. For example, international consumer demand for foreign goods is related to price; if the price differential between foreign goods and domestically-produced goods were to decrease due to increased tariffs on foreign goods, strengthening in the applicable foreign currencies relative to domestic currencies, rising wages, increasing input or energy costs or other factors, demand for foreign goods could decrease, which could result in reduced demand for intermodal container leasing. A similar reduction in demand for intermodal container leasing could result from an increased use of quotas or other technical barriers to restrict trade. In 2018, a number of major trading economies implemented, and increased tariffs and other trade restrictions and significant renegotiations of existing trade agreements commenced. This continued in 2019 with partial resolutions of certain disputes seen at the end of that year. If these trade restrictions and tariffs continue or increase it may materially impact container demand and change trade patterns. The Novel Coronavirus pandemic initially decreased trade demand but cargo growth resumed in mid-2020 particularly for consumer goods and medical supplies. The long term impact of the Novel Coronavirus on trade and cargo demand is uncertain.

The Russia-Ukraine war may negatively impact international trade and our business.

The Russian military operation in Ukraine that commenced on February 24, 2022 has resulted in significant economic sanctions and trade controls on Russia with certain countries restricting shipments to or from Russian ports and limitations on Russian banks and entities ability to access international payment systems. The Company has approximately $17 million in net book value of owned containers on lease to a customer that conducts a significant amount of its trading with Russia. If the situation continues, worsens, or if countries impose additional economic sanctions or other business restrictions, including sanctions on countries that are supporting Russia or refusing to sanction Russian parties, international trade may be negatively impacted and container trade and demand for our containers may decrease and our business and results of operation could be harmed.

7


 

Asian economic instability could reduce demand for leasing, which would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Many of our customers are substantially dependent upon shipments of goods exported from Asia. From time to time, there have been health scares, such as the Novel Coronavirus outbreak in China in early 2020, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and avian flu, financial turmoil, natural disasters, and political instability in Asia. In the past, these events have adversely affected our container lessees and the general demand for shipping and have led to reduced demand for leased containers or otherwise caused adverse effects on us. Ongoing or future events such as these may have similar or worse impacts on our business. Any reduction in demand for leased containers would harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Inherent to Our Business and Industry

We face risks associated with re-leasing containers after their initial long-term lease.

We estimate the useful lives of our standard dry freight containers to be 13 to 14 years, open-top and flat-rack containers to be 14 to 16 years, refrigerated containers to be 12 years and tank containers to be 20 years. When we purchase newly produced containers, we typically lease them out under long-term leases with terms of 5 or more years at a lease rate that is correlated to the price paid for the container and prevailing interest rates. As containers leased under term leases are not leased out for their full economic life, we face risks associated with re-leasing containers after their initial long-term lease. If prevailing container lease rates decline significantly between the time a container is initially leased out and when its initial long-term lease expires, or if overall demand for containers declines, we may be unable to earn a similar lease rate from the re-leasing of containers when their initial term leases expire which could materially adversely impact our results and financial performance.

Gains and losses associated with the disposition or trading of used equipment may fluctuate and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We regularly sell used containers at the end of their useful lives in marine service or when we believe it maximizes the projected financial return, considering the location, sale price, cost of repair, possible repositioning expenses, earnings prospects and remaining useful life. The realized residual value of these containers affects our profitability. The volatility of the residual values of used containers may be significant. These values depend upon, among other factors, demand for used containers for secondary purposes, comparable new container costs, used container availability, condition and location of the containers, and market conditions. Most of these factors are outside of our control. Additionally, if shipping lines or our leasing company competitors determine to sell their used containers at a younger age than we believe to be the useful life of our equipment, our containers may be more difficult to sell or may sell for less than containers that were more recently manufactured.

Gains or losses on the disposition of used container equipment and the sales fees earned on the disposition of managed containers fluctuate and may be significant if we sell large quantities of used containers. Low disposal prices and the high volume of containers being disposed of can cause an elevated level of container impairments to occur. Continued low disposal prices and/or high disposal volumes could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, even in periods of high disposal prices, if we have limited numbers of older containers returned from shipping lines available to sell, we may be limited in our ability to benefit from periods of high disposal prices. See Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” for a discussion of our gains or losses on the disposition of used container equipment.

In addition to disposing of our fleet’s used containers at the end of their useful life, we opportunistically purchase used containers for resale from our shipping line customers and other sellers. Shipping lines either enter into trading arrangements with us at the time they are ready to dispose of older containers or enter into purchase leaseback transactions with us where they sell us older containers and then lease them back until the shipping line is ready to dispose of the containers. We face resale price risk with both transactions since by the time the container is provided to us from the shipping line the prevailing prices for older containers may have declined from the value we assumed at the time of purchase.

8


 

If the supply of trading equipment becomes limited because these sellers develop other means for disposing of their equipment or develop their own sales network, our equipment trading revenues and our profitability could be negatively impacted. If selling prices rapidly deteriorate and we are holding a large inventory that was purchased when prices for trading equipment were higher or if prices decline over the life of our purchase leaseback transactions, then our gross margins from trading and the sale of containers acquired through purchase leaseback transactions will decline or become negative.

Lessee defaults have and may harm our business, results of operations and financial condition by decreasing revenue and increasing storage, repositioning, collection, insurance, and recovery expenses.

Our containers are leased to numerous container lessees. Lessees are required to pay rent and to indemnify us for damage to or loss of containers. Lessees may default in paying rent and performing other obligations under their leases. A delay or diminution in amounts received under the leases (including leases on our managed containers), or a default in the performance of maintenance or other lessee obligations under the leases could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition and our ability to make payments on our debt.

We experienced lessee defaults, including the default of Hanjin in 2016, which severely negatively impacted our financial performance, and we believe that there is the continued risk of lessee defaults in the future. Historically, efforts to maintain high freight rates on the major trade lanes generally have not been sustainable for long periods of time. Excess vessel capacity due to new ship production, including the production of very large ships, and the re-activation of previously laid up vessels may be a factor in the future, especially if older vessels are not scrapped. Major shipping lines had record profits during 2020 to 2022 given the trade demand increase that commenced in the middle of 2020, however reliable information about the financial position and resources of many shipping lines can be difficult to obtain and all shipping lines may not benefit equally from the higher trade demand. Excess vessel capacity and continued new vessel deliveries, especially the delivery of very large vessels, may cause freight rate pressure to return in the future and substantial numbers of new ships were ordered by shipping lines since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the commencement of various tariff and trade restriction actions between major trading nations in 2018 which continued and accelerated in 2019 has increased uncertainty about container trade growth and demand and may increase default risk if tariff actions return and/or increase. While certain trade disputes were resolved at the end of 2019, the duration of these tariff actions may have altered trade patterns and may have lasting impacts on container demand. The Novel Coronavirus pandemic has added to uncertainty about container trade demand, freight rates and our lessees' financial performance. Freight rates have normalized since the peaks seen earlier in the pandemic as congestion and demand have moderated and our lessees historical financial performance may not continue. Additionally, shipping lines’ expenses for vessels and containers have significantly increased since the commencement of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic and many of these are fixed long term costs that may be difficult to service with lower freight rates and/or reduced trade demand. As a result, we continue to face heightened risk that our financial performance and cash flow could be severely affected by defaults by our customers.

When lessees default, we may fail to recover all of our containers, and the containers that we do recover may be recovered in locations where we will not be able to quickly re-lease or sell them on commercially acceptable terms. In recovery actions we must locate the containers and often need to pay accrued storage and handling charges to depots and terminals, which may include debts incurred by the defaulting shipping line. We also may have to reposition these containers to other places where we can re-lease or sell them, which could be expensive, depending on the locations and distances involved. Following repositioning, we may need to repair the containers and pay container depots for storage until the containers are re-leased. These recovery and repair costs, and repositioning costs generally are reflected in our financial statements under container lessee default expense, net, and direct container expense – owned fleet, respectively. Accordingly, the amount of our bad debt expense may not capture the total adverse financial impact on us from a shipping line’s default. While we previously maintained insurance to cover some defaults, recent premium increases, large deductible amounts, and significant policy exclusions made the coverage uneconomic and we determined to let our coverage lapse in 2021. In 2015 and 2016 we filed significant insurance claims for lessee defaults we experienced. As a result of these insurance claims, potential future insurance claims or changes in the perceived risk of providing default insurance, such insurance might not be available to us in the future on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we resume insurance, in any insurance claim our insurers may not agree with our determination that we have suffered an insured loss or our calculation of the amount of the insured loss. Any such future defaults could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Historically we have recovered a very high percentage of the containers from defaulted lessees. However, in past years we encountered defaults from several smaller lessees and lessees in locations where recoveries did not track to our historical experience and significant losses were incurred. These losses were due to a number of containers being unrecoverable as the

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containers were not in the control of the lessee or the containers were detained by depots or terminals that demanded storage charges in excess of the value of the detained containers after accounting for repair and repositioning costs. Additionally, in certain recent insolvencies, even when we have recovered the containers, they have generally been in very poor condition which limits their ability to be re-leased and reduces their disposal value, both of which add to the ultimate cost of the default. If a material amount of future recoveries from defaulted lessees continue to deviate from our historical recovery experience, our financial performance and cash flow could be severely adversely affected.

Certain liens may arise on our containers.

Depot operators, manufacturers, repairmen, terminals, ship owners and transporters do come into possession of our containers from time to time and have amounts due to them from the lessees or sublessees of the containers. In the event of nonpayment of those charges by the lessees or sublessees, we may be delayed in, or entirely barred from, repossessing the containers, or be required to make payments or incur expenses to discharge the lien to take possession of our containers.

Risks Related to our Debt and Leverage

Our indebtedness reduces our financial flexibility and could impede our ability to operate.

We have historically operated with, and anticipate continuing to operate with, a significant amount of debt. As of December 31, 2022, we had outstanding indebtedness of $5,540 million under our debt facilities. All of our outstanding indebtedness is secured debt collateralized primarily by our container assets and finance leases. There is no assurance that we will be able to refinance our outstanding indebtedness on terms that we can afford or at all. If we are unable to refinance our outstanding indebtedness, or if we are unable to increase the amount of our borrowing capacity, it could limit our ability to grow our business and our liquidity.

The amount of our indebtedness, and the terms of the related indebtedness (including interest rates and covenants), could have important consequences for us, including the following:

require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations to make payments on our debt, thereby reducing funds available for operations, investments, dividends, and future business opportunities and other purposes;
limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and industry;
reduce our ability to make acquisitions or expand our business;
make it more difficult for us to satisfy our current or future debt obligations;
failure to comply with our debt obligations, including financial and other restrictive covenants, could result in an event of default under the agreements governing such indebtedness, which could lead to, among other things, an acceleration of our indebtedness or foreclosure on the assets securing our indebtedness and have a material adverse effect on our business or financial condition;
limit our ability to borrow additional funds or to sell assets to raise funds, if needed, for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, or other purposes; and
increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions, including changes in interest rates.

We may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service and repay our debt and related obligations and have sufficient funds left over to achieve or sustain profitability in our operations, meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs and/or compete successfully in our industry. An uncured event of default in some or all of our debt facilities could cause some or all of our entities to be declared bankrupt or liquidated.

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We will require a significant amount of cash to service and repay our outstanding indebtedness, fund future capital expenditures, and our ability to generate cash depends on many factors beyond our control.

Our ability to make payments on and repay our indebtedness and to fund planned capital expenditures will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. Our business primarily generates cash from our container assets. Our lenders, rating agencies and the investors in our asset-backed debt securities look to the historical and anticipated performance of our container assets when deciding whether to lend to us and the terms for such lending. It is possible that:

our business will not generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service and repay our debt and to fund working capital requirements and future capital expenditure;
future borrowings will not be available under our current or future credit facilities in an amount sufficient to enable us to refinance our debt; or
we will not be able to refinance any of our debt on commercially reasonable terms or at all due to declining historical or anticipated financial performance of our assets or for other reasons.

The terms of our debt facilities impose, and the terms of any future indebtedness may impose, significant operating, financial and other restrictions on us and our subsidiaries.

Restrictions imposed by our secured debt facilities, revolving credit facilities, term loan and bonds may limit or prohibit, among other things, our ability to:

incur additional indebtedness;
pay dividends on or redeem or repurchase our common and preferred shares;
enter into new lines of business;
issue capital stock of our subsidiaries;
make loans and certain types of investments;
incur liens;
sell certain assets or merge with or into other companies or acquire other companies;
enter into certain transactions with shareholders and affiliates; and
receive dividends, distributions, or other payments from our subsidiaries.

We are also required to comply with certain financial covenants. These restrictions could adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital needs and pursue available business opportunities. A breach of any of these financial covenants and restrictions, due to weaker financial performance, reduced asset values or otherwise could result in a default in respect of the related indebtedness. If a default occurs, the relevant lenders could elect to declare the indebtedness, together with accrued interest and fees, to be immediately due and payable and proceed against any collateral securing that indebtedness, which will constitute substantially all of our container assets and finance leases. Certain covenants limit our ability to borrow amounts secured by containers leased to a defaulted or bankrupt customer, compliance with such covenants may require repayment of amounts borrowed or limit future borrowings and compliance with these covenants may be difficult in the event of an insolvency of a large customer. If needed in the future, we may be unable to obtain covenant amendments and waivers from our lenders and some or all of our indebtedness could be in default. Additionally, covenant amendments and waivers may limit our ability to access additional funds for container investment and the cost and expense of covenant amendments, waivers and/or refinancing may limit our available funds for container investment.

If we are unable to enter into interest rate swaps and caps on reasonable commercial terms or if a counterparty under our interest rate swap and cap agreements defaults, our exposure associated with our variable rate debt could increase.

We have typically funded a significant portion of the purchase price of new containers through borrowings under our revolving credit facilities and our secured debt facilities and intend to use borrowings under our revolving credit facilities and our secured debt facilities for such funding in the future. As of December 31, 2022, $2,607 million in aggregate principal amount under our revolving debt facilities are subject to variable interest rates. We have entered into various interest rate

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swap agreements to mitigate our exposure associated with variable rate debt. The swap agreements involve payments by us to counterparties at fixed rates in return for receipts based upon variable rates indexed to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), the replacement rate to London Inter Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). There can be no assurance that interest rate swaps and caps will be available in the future, or if available, will be on terms satisfactory to us. Moreover, our interest rate swap agreements are subject to counterparty credit exposure, which is defined as the ability of a counterparty to perform its financial obligations under a derivative contract. While we monitor our counterparties’ credit ratings on an on-going basis, we cannot be certain that they will stay in compliance with the related derivative agreements and not default in the future. If we are unable to obtain interest rate swaps and caps or if a counterparty under our interest rate swap and cap agreements defaults, our exposure associated with our variable rate debt could increase.

Even with hedged variable rate debt and fixed rate debt, we face interest rate risk.

We generally hedge and fix our overall debt exposure to have a maturity similar to the average remaining lease term of our long-term lease contracts. However, if during the duration of our hedging, interest rates increase but lease rate per diems do not also increase, as our hedges expire our financial performance may decline due to higher interest rates not being offset by higher per diems. If this occurs, we may not be able to generate sufficient cash flows to service our debt obligations and/or we may breach our debt covenants, all of which would materially and adversely impact us. Additionally, in recent years we have entered into long term finance and operating leases that have a duration of longer than seven years and we do not believe that hedging the debt associated with the entire duration of these leases is economic. If interest rates materially increase in the later years of these leases and the debt associated with these leases remains unhedged our results may be adversely affected.

We own a large number of containers in our fleet and are subject to significant ownership risk and increasing our owned fleet entails increasing our debt, which could result in financial instability.

Ownership of containers entails greater risk than management of containers for container investors. In 2022, the percentage of containers in our fleet that we own increased from 93% at the beginning of the year to 94% at the end of the year. In December 2019, we purchased the fleet of containers we previously managed for Leased Assets Pool Company Limited, an affiliate of Trencor and this increased our owned fleet percentage in 2019. In 2021, we purchased the 49.9% of TAP Funding Limited that we did not own, which further increased our owned fleet percentage in 2021. The increased number of containers in our owned fleet increases our exposure to financing costs, financing risks, changes in per diem rates, re-leasing risk, changes in utilization rates, lessee defaults, repositioning costs, storage expenses, impairment charges and changes in sales prices upon the disposition of containers. The number of containers in our owned fleet fluctuates over time as we purchase new containers, sell containers into the secondary resale market, add third party container investors and/or acquire other fleets.

If we continue to increase the number of containers in our owned fleet, we will likely have more capital at risk and may need to maintain higher debt balances. Additional borrowings may not be available under our revolving credit facilities or our secured debt facilities, and we may not be able to refinance these facilities, if necessary, on commercially reasonable terms or at all. We may need to raise additional debt or equity capital in order to fund our business, expand our sales activities and/or respond to competitive pressures. We may not have access to the capital resources we desire or need to fund our business or may not have access on attractive terms. These factors, among others, may reduce our profitability and adversely affect our plans to maintain the container ownership portion of our business.

We Face Operational and Competitive Risks

We may incur significant costs to reposition our containers, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

When lessees return containers to locations where supply exceeds demand and when lessees default and we recover containers, we sometimes reposition containers to higher demand areas. Repositioning expenses vary depending on geographic location, distance, freight rates and other factors, and may not be fully covered by drop-off charges collected from the previous lessee of the containers or pick-up charges paid by the new lessee. We seek to limit the number of and impose surcharges on containers returned to low demand locations. Market conditions, however, may not enable us to continue such practices. In addition, we may not be able to accurately anticipate which locations will be characterized by higher or lower

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demand in the future, and our current contracts will not protect us from repositioning costs if locations that we expect to be higher demand locations turn out to be lower demand locations at the time the containers are returned. For example, the vast majority of our long-term leases require that a high percentage of the containers are returned in Asia, primarily in China. If long-term trade patterns change, it may not be economically desirable to have the bulk of our containers returned in China at the end of long-term leases. Any such increases in costs to reposition our containers could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

A contraction or slowdown in containerized cargo growth or negative containerized cargo growth would lead to a surplus of containers and a lack of storage space, which could negatively impact us.

We depend on third party depot operators to repair and store our equipment in port areas throughout the world. Growth in the world’s container fleet has significantly outpaced growth in depot capacity and even in the current period of historically high utilization, we continue to experience limited depot capacity in certain major port cities. Additionally, the land occupied by depots is increasingly being considered prime real estate, as it is coastal land in or near major cities, and this land may be developed into other uses or there may be increasing restrictions on depot operations by local communities. This trend has already caused depot storage costs to increase and could further increase depots’ costs and in some cases force depots to relocate to sites further from the port areas. If these changes affect a large number of our depots, or if we experience a period of lower container utilization, it could significantly increase the cost of maintaining and storing our off-hire containers. Additionally, if depot space is unavailable, we may be unable to accept returned containers from lessees, which may cause us to breach our lease agreements. The current period of very high container utilization may further add financial stress to third party depots as they are receiving limited amounts for storing containers. This financial stress could cause depot closures and further exacerbate the risks we face from limited container storage space.

If we are unable to lease our new containers shortly after we purchase them, our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition may be harmed.

Lease rates for new containers are positively correlated to the fluctuations in the price of new containers, which is positively correlated with the price of steel, a major component used in the manufacture of new containers. If we are unable to lease the new containers that we purchase within a short period of time of such purchase, the market price of new containers and the corresponding market lease rates for new containers may decrease, regardless of the higher cost of the previously purchased containers. Additionally, if we believe new container prices are attractive, we may purchase more containers than we have immediate demand for if we expect container prices or lease rates may rise. If prices do not rise or new container demand weakens, we may be unable to lease this speculative inventory on attractive terms or at all. Declines in new container prices, lease rates, or the inability to lease new containers could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Consolidation of container manufacturers or the disruption of manufacturing for the major manufacturers could result in higher new container prices and/or decreased supply of new containers. Any material increase in the cost or reduction in the supply of new containers could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We currently purchase substantially all our containers from manufacturers based in the PRC. If it were to become more expensive for us to procure containers in the PRC or to transport these containers at a low cost from the manufacturer to the locations where they are needed by our container lessees because of changes in exchange rates between the U.S. Dollar and Chinese Yuan, consolidation among container suppliers, increased tariffs imposed by the U.S. or other governments, changing trade patterns, increased fuel costs, increased labor costs, or for any other reason, we may have to seek alternative sources of supply and we may not be able to make alternative arrangements quickly enough to meet our container needs, and the alternative arrangements may increase our costs.

The availability and price of containers depend significantly on the demand, available capacity and bargaining position of the major container manufacturers. Three major manufacturers have approximately 80% of that industry’s market share. Additionally, one of the major container manufacturers is under common ownership with a large container lessor, which may impact our ability to competitively source containers from this manufacturer. This market structure and the commodity inputs used in manufacturing have led to significant variability in container prices. In particular, the increased focus on environmental matters in China may reduce the supply (and increase the cost) of steel and other raw materials used in our containers and the mandatory use of water borne paint by all container factories in China has already increased the cost of containers and created container production constraints. If an increased cost of purchasing containers is not matched by a

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corresponding increase in lease rates, or if we have difficulty in sourcing containers, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be harmed.

Sustained reduction in the production of new containers could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Container manufacturing shutdowns in China in the wake of the financial crisis drastically reduced the production of standard dry freight containers from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the end of 2009, combined with continued retirement of older containers in the ordinary course, led to a decline in the world container fleet of approximately 4% in 2009, creating a shortage of containers. During the period of shutdowns, container manufacturers lost up to 60% of their skilled work force and had limited production capacity in 2010 as they had to hire and train a new skilled work force. Although manufacturers resumed production in 2011 and have continued steady production, if there is a sustained reduction in the production of new containers due to the Novel Coronavirus or otherwise, it could impact our ability to expand our fleet, which could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We face extensive competition in the container leasing industry.

We may be unable to compete favorably in the highly competitive container leasing and container management businesses. We compete with a relatively small number of major leasing companies, many smaller lessors, companies, and financial institutions offering finance leases, and promoters of container ownership and leasing as a tax-efficient investment. Some of these competitors may have greater financial resources and access to capital than we do. Additionally, some of these competitors may have large, underutilized inventories of containers, which could, if leased, lead to significant downward pressure on per diem rates, margins, and prices of containers. Competition among container leasing companies depends upon many factors, including, among others: per diem rates; supply reliability; lease terms, including lease duration, drop-off restrictions and repair provisions; customer service; and the location, availability, quality, and individual characteristics of containers. In recent years, several container leasing companies have acquired other container lessors and we may face increased competition from these merged firms. Following the completion of each consolidation, the new entity may face further pressure for fleet growth and may compete even more aggressively, causing further declines in rental rates available from container leases. New entrants into the leasing business may be attracted by the historically high rate of containerized trade growth, access to the capital markets and low pricing for containers. New entrants may be willing to offer pricing or other terms that we are unwilling or unable to match. Additionally, the management agreements under which we manage containers for other parties do not restrict these container investors from having other container fleets managed by competing leasing companies or from directly competing with us.

Our lessees may decide to buy, rather than lease their containers.

We, like other suppliers of leased containers, are dependent upon decisions by shipping lines to lease rather than to buy their container equipment. Shipping lines own a significant amount of the world’s intermodal containers and effectively compete with us. In part due to constraints on their financing and need to allocate capital to new ship purchases, scrubber installations for low sulphur emissions compliance and port terminals, in recent years, shipping lines have generally reduced their purchases of new containers. However, following several years of record profits, in 2022 shipping lines increased the percentage of containers that they purchased rather than leased. In 2022, we believe that approximately 40% of all shipping containers were purchased by leasing companies. In 2022 and 2021, shipping lines continued to report historic profitability and they may have additional financial resources in the future to allocate to container purchases. Should shipping lines decide to buy a larger percentage of the containers they operate, our utilization rate would decrease, resulting in decreased leasing revenues, increased storage costs and increased repositioning costs. A decrease in the portion of leased containers would also reduce our investment opportunities and significantly constrain our growth.

Use of counterfeit and improper refrigerant in refrigeration machines for refrigerated containers could cause irreparable damage to the refrigeration machines, death, or personal injury, and materially impair the value of our refrigerated container fleet.

In past years, there were a limited number of reports of counterfeit and improper refrigerant gas being used to service refrigeration machines in depots primarily in Asia. The use of this counterfeit gas has led to the explosion of several refrigeration machines. Several of these incidents resulted in personal injury or death, and in all cases, the counterfeit gas led to irreparable damage to the refrigeration machines.

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Safer testing procedures were developed and implemented by refrigeration manufacturers and industry participants in order to determine whether counterfeit or improper gas was used to service a refrigeration machine. However, there can be no assurance that these procedures will prove to continue to be reliable and cost effective. If industry procedures and tests are not proven safe and effective or if the use of such counterfeit and improper refrigerant recurs and is widespread or other counterfeit refrigerant issues emerge in the future, the value of our refrigerated container fleet and our ability to lease refrigerated containers could be materially impaired and could therefore have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Additionally, we might be subject to claims for damages by parties injured by contaminated refrigeration machinery operated by our lessees which may materially adversely affect us.

 

 

Risks Arising From the International Operations

The international nature of the container shipping industry exposes us to numerous risks.

We are subject to risks inherent in conducting business across national boundaries, any one of which could adversely impact our business. These risks include:

regional or local economic downturns;
fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
changes in governmental policy or regulation;
restrictions on the transfer of funds or other assets into or out of different countries;
import and export duties and quotas;
domestic and foreign customs, tariffs and taxes;
war, hostilities and terrorist attacks, or the threat of any of these events;
government instability;
nationalization of foreign assets;
government protectionism;
compliance with export controls and economic sanctions, including those of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Treasury or other governments;
compliance with import procedures and controls, including those of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or other governments;
consequences from changes in tax laws, including tax laws pertaining to the container investors;
potential liabilities relating to foreign withholding taxes;
labor or other disruptions at key ports;
difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations; and
restrictions on our ability to own or operate subsidiaries, make investments, or acquire new businesses in various jurisdictions.
Outbreaks of regional or international epidemics or pandemics such as a Coronavirus or SARS.

One or more of these factors or other related factors may impair our current or future international operations and, as a result, harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

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Our results of operations are subject to changes resulting from the political and economic policies of the PRC and economic activity in the PRC.

A substantial portion of our containers are leased out from locations in the PRC. The main manufacturers of containers are also located in the PRC. The political and economic policies of the PRC and the level of economic activity in the PRC may have a significant impact on our company and our financial performance.

Changes in the political leadership of the PRC may have a significant effect on laws and policies that impact economic growth and trade and the corresponding need for containers to ship goods from the PRC, including the introduction of measures to control inflation, changes in the rate or method of taxation, and the imposition of additional restrictions on currency conversion, remittances abroad, and foreign investment. Moreover, economic reforms and growth in the PRC have been more successful in certain provinces than in others, and the continuation of or increases in such disparities could affect the political or social stability of the PRC. Furthermore, the current high level of debt by some companies in China may lead to defaults which may not be supported by the Chinese government. In recent years the rate of economic growth in the PRC has declined. Additionally, government policies that reduce the emphasis on manufacturing and increase priorities for domestic consumption and services may alter trade patterns and dampen demand for containers. Chinese government environmental policies and practices may reduce steel production which would impact container costs and may limit factory production, which could impact trade growth and container demand.

A large number of our shipping line customers are domiciled either in the PRC (including Hong Kong) or in Taiwan. In 2022, approximately 19% of our total lease billing was attributable to shipping line customers that were either domiciled in the PRC (including Hong Kong) or in Taiwan. Substantially, all container manufacturing facilities from which we purchased our containers in 2022 are located in the PRC. A reduced rate of economic growth, changes to economic or trade policy or political instability in either the PRC or Taiwan could have a negative effect on our major customers, our ability to obtain containers and correspondingly, our results of operations and financial condition.

The legal systems in the PRC and other jurisdictions have inherent uncertainties that could limit the legal protections available to us and even if legal judgments are obtained, collection may be difficult.

We currently purchase substantially all our containers from manufacturers based in the PRC. In addition, a substantial portion of our containers are leased out from locations in the PRC. California law governs almost all of these agreements. However, disputes or settlements arising out of these agreements may need to be enforced in the PRC. The PRC legal system is based on written statutes. Prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. Since 1979, PRC legislation and regulations have significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in the PRC. However, since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and may be subject to considerable discretion, variation, or influence by external forces unrelated to the legal merits of a particular matter. The enforcement of these laws, regulations, and rules involves uncertainties that may limit remedies available to us. Any litigation or arbitration in the PRC may be protracted and may result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. In addition, the PRC may enact new laws or amend current laws that may be detrimental to us, which may have a material adverse effect on our business operations. If we are unable to enforce any legal rights that we may have under our contracts or otherwise in the PRC, our ability to compete and our results of operations could be harmed.

In addition, as our containers are used in trade involving goods being shipped to locations throughout the world, it is not possible to predict, with any degree of certainty, the jurisdictions in which enforcement proceedings may be commenced. Litigation and enforcement proceedings have inherent uncertainties in any jurisdiction and are expensive. These uncertainties are enhanced in countries that have less developed legal systems where the interpretation of laws and regulations is not consistent, may be influenced by factors other than legal merits and may be cumbersome, time-consuming and even more expensive. For example, repossession from defaulting lessees may be difficult and more expensive in jurisdictions whose laws do not confer the same security interests and rights to creditors and lessors as those in the United States and where the legal system is not as well developed. Additionally, even if we are successful in obtaining judgments against defaulting lessees, these lessees may have limited owned assets and/or heavily encumbered assets and the collection and enforcement of a monetary judgment may be unsuccessful. As a result, the remedies available and the relative success and expedience of collection and enforcement proceedings with respect to the containers in various jurisdictions cannot be predicted.

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Because substantially all of our revenues are generated in U.S. dollars, but a significant portion of our expenses are incurred in other currencies, exchange rate fluctuations could have an adverse impact on our results of operations.

The U.S. dollar is our primary operating currency. Almost all of our revenues are denominated in U.S. dollars, and approximately 72% of our direct container expenses - owned fleet were denominated in U.S. dollars for the year ended December 31, 2022. Accordingly, a significant amount of our expenses is incurred in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. This difference could lead to fluctuations in net income due to changes in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to the other currencies. During 2022, 2021 and 2020, 28%, 21% and 28%, respectively, of our direct container expenses – owned fleet were paid in different foreign currencies. A decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar against non-U.S. currencies in which our expenses are incurred translates into an increase in those expenses in U.S. dollar terms, which would decrease our net income. While the prices of the used containers we trade or dispose are primarily quoted and billed in U.S. dollars, declines in the currencies where these containers are sold relative to the U.S. dollar can serve to reduce the market prices for used containers, which will decrease our net income. We do not engage in foreign currency hedging activities which might reduce the volatility associated with exchange rates.

 

Terrorist attacks, the threat of such attacks or the outbreak of war and hostilities could negatively impact our operations and profitability and may expose us to liability.

Terrorist attacks and the threat of such attacks have contributed to economic instability in the U.S. and elsewhere, and further acts or threats of terrorism, violence, war, or hostilities could similarly affect world trade and the industries in which we and our container lessees operate. For example, worldwide containerized trade dramatically decreased in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S., which affected demand for leased containers. In addition, terrorist attacks, threats of terrorism, violence, war, or hostilities may directly impact ports, depots, our facilities or those of our suppliers or container lessees and could impact our sales and our supply chain. A severe disruption to the worldwide ports system and flow of goods could result in a reduction in the level of international trade and lower demand for our containers.

Our lease agreements require our lessees to indemnify us for all costs, liabilities and expenses arising out of the use of our containers, including property damage to the containers, damage to third-party property and personal injury. However, our lessees may not have adequate resources to honor their indemnity obligations after a terrorist attack. Accordingly, we may not be protected from liability (and expenses in defending against claims of liability) arising from a terrorist attack.

 

Risks Related to Our Business Operations

We rely on our proprietary information technology systems to conduct our business. If these systems fail to perform their functions adequately, or if we experience an interruption in their operation, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be harmed.

The efficient operation of our business is highly dependent on our proprietary information technology systems. We rely on our systems to record transactions, such as repair and depot charges, purchases and disposals of containers and movements associated with each of our owned or managed containers. We use the information provided by these systems in our day-to-day business decisions in order to effectively manage our lease portfolio, reduce costs and improve customer service. We also rely on these systems for the accurate tracking of the performance of our managed fleet for each container investor. In 2020, we commenced efforts to replace several legacy computer systems that are central to our business operations, and we implemented our new enterprise resource planning “ERP” system in 2022 to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our internal administrative activities and certain financial accounting and reporting processes. The failure of our systems to perform as we expect, or any failure to successfully replace our legacy systems, could disrupt our business, adversely affect our results of operations and cause our relationships with lessees and container investors to suffer. Our information technology systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, power loss and computer systems failures and viruses or cyber-attacks. Even though we have developed redundancies and other contingencies to mitigate any disruptions to our information technology systems, these redundancies and contingencies may not completely prevent interruptions to our information technology systems. In recent years we have moved various information technology systems and data to cloud-based storage providers and software vendors. We face additional risks

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from relying on third parties to store, process and manage our data and software. Any such interruptions could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Cyber-attacks and/or information technology security breaches on us or our customers could materially and adversely affect us.

 

If we, our customers or other third parties with which we do business were to fall victim to successful cyber-attacks or experience other cybersecurity incidents that cause system failure, downtime, or the loss of sensitive data, we may incur substantial costs and suffer other negative consequences. Our ability to handle the delivery and return of containers, lease billing, and the sale of older containers is dependent on the stable operation of our information technology systems. Our customers’ ability to generate revenue and make timely payments to us is similarly dependent on the stable operation of their information technology systems. Successful breaches, employee malfeasance, or human or technological error could result in, for example, unauthorized access to, disclosure, modification, misuse, loss, or destruction of company, customer, or other third-party data or systems; theft of sensitive, regulated, or confidential data; the loss of access to critical data or systems through ransomware, destructive attacks, or other means; and business delays, service or system disruptions or denials of service.

Cybersecurity incidents have increased in number and severity, and it is expected that these trends will continue. Should the Company be affected by such an incident, we may incur substantial costs and suffer other negative consequences, which may include substantial remediation costs, such as liability for stolen assets or information, repairs of system damage, and incentives to customers or business partners in an effort to maintain relationships after an attack, as well as litigation and legal risks.

We face risks from our tank container management agreement with Trifleet Leasing (The Netherlands) B.V.

We entered into a tank container management agreement with Trifleet Leasing (The Netherlands) B.V. (“Trifleet”) in June 2013. Under this agreement, we invest funds with Trifleet for the purchase and leasing of tank containers. Trifleet is our exclusive manager for investments in tank containers. Intermodal tank containers are used for the transport and storage of liquid foodstuffs, chemicals, and gases. This is a specialized market subject to a number of regulations and strict operating procedures. As Trifleet is investing funds on our behalf in tank containers, our return on any investments under this management agreement are highly reliant on their skill and performance, as well as the overall investment climate for tank containers. While we approve of the amounts committed under the management agreement, Trifleet selects the lessees, negotiates lease terms, determines equipment specifications, negotiates equipment orders and supervises production, and is responsible for all other management activities including customer billing, equipment return, re-leasing, maintenance, and repairs. If Trifleet or the tank container market does not perform as we anticipate, we may not receive adequate returns on our investment and our results could be materially impacted. Additionally, given the nature of tank containers and their cargos, our ownership of tank containers could expose us to different and additional risks than we generally face as the owner and lessor of dry freight and refrigerated containers. While lessees, Trifleet and ourselves all maintain insurance, and lessees agree to accept liability for claims caused by the operation of tank containers, this may still be inadequate to shield us from costs and liability from any claims arising from tank containers that we own pursuant to the Trifleet management agreement. In December 2020, Trifleet was purchased by GATX Corporation, a publicly traded company that primarily leases railcars. Given the sale of Trifleet, we may face additional risks in the continued performance of our tank investments managed by Trifleet and in our continued relationship with Trifleet.

If our insurance is inadequate or if we are unable to obtain insurance, we may experience losses.

Under all of our leases, our lessees are generally responsible for loss of or damage to a container beyond ordinary wear and tear, and they are required to purchase insurance to cover any other liabilities. Our depots are also required to maintain insurance and indemnify us against losses. We also maintain our own insurance to cover our containers when they are not on-hire to lessees or when the lessee fails to have adequate primary coverage, and third-party liability insurance for both on-hire and off-hire containers. In addition, we previously maintained insurance that, after satisfying significant deductibles, would cover loss of revenue as a result of default under most of our leases, as well as the recovery cost or replacement value of most of our containers. Given the high premium, significant deductible, and policy exclusions in this policy, we determined to lapse our coverage since 2021. Lessees’ and depots’ insurance policies and indemnity rights may not protect us against losses. Our own insurance may prove to be inadequate or have too high deductibles to prevent against losses or in the future coverage may be unavailable or uneconomic, and losses could arise from a lack of insurance coverage.

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The U.S. government has special contracting requirements that create additional risks.

In January 2019, we were informed that the U.S. Transportation Command Directorate of Acquisition (“USTranscom”) had issued a multi-vendor contract that included us as one of the vendors selected to supply leased marine containers and intermodal equipment to the U.S. Military. As a multi-vendor contract, there is no guarantee that the U.S. Military will accept our bids to supply containers and related services. Thus, expected revenues from the USTranscom contract are difficult to predict and may not materialize or prove profitable. If we do not perform in accordance with the terms of the USTranscom contract, we may receive a poor performance report that would be considered by the U.S. Military in making any future awards.

In contracting with the U.S. Military, we are subject to U.S. government contract laws, regulations and other requirements that impose risks not generally found in commercial contracts. For example, U.S. government contracts require contractors to comply with a number of socio-economic requirements and to submit periodic reports regarding compliance, are subject to audit and modification by the U.S. government in its sole discretion, and impose certain requirements relating to software and/or technical data that, if not followed, could result in the inadvertent grant to the U.S. government of broader licenses to use and disclose such software or data than intended.

These laws, regulations and contract provisions also permit, under certain circumstances, the U.S. government unilaterally to:

suspend or prevent us for a set period of time from receiving new government contracts or extending existing contracts based on violations or suspected violations of laws or regulations;
terminate the USTranscom contract;
reduce the scope and value of the USTranscom contract;
audit our performance under the USTranscom contract and our compliance with various regulations; and
change certain terms and conditions in the USTranscom contract.

In addition, the U.S. Military may terminate the USTranscom contract either for its convenience at any time or if we default by failing to perform in accordance with the contract schedule and terms. Termination for convenience provisions generally enable the contractor to recover only those costs incurred or committed, and settlement expenses and profit on the work completed prior to termination. Termination for default provisions do not permit these recoveries and make the contractor liable for excess costs incurred by the U.S. Military in procuring undelivered items from another source.

In addition, the U.S. government could bring criminal and civil charges against us based on intentional or unintentional violations of the representations and certifications that we have made in the USTranscom contract. Although adjustments arising from U.S. government audits and reviews have not seriously harmed our business in the past, future audits and reviews could cause adverse effects. We could also suffer serious harm to our reputation if allegations of impropriety were to be made against us.

We may choose to pursue acquisitions or joint ventures that could present unforeseen integration obstacles or costs and we face risks from our joint venture.

We may pursue acquisitions and joint ventures. Acquisitions involve a number of risks and present financial, managerial and operational challenges, including:

potential disruption of our ongoing business and distraction of management;
difficulty integrating personnel and financial and other systems;
hiring additional management and other critical personnel; and
increasing the scope, geographic diversity, and complexity of our operations.

In addition, we may encounter unforeseen obstacles or costs in the integration of acquired businesses. Also, the presence of one or more material liabilities of an acquired company that are unknown to us at the time of acquisition may have a

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material adverse effect on our business. Acquisitions or joint ventures may not be successful, and we may not realize any anticipated benefits from acquisitions or joint ventures.

Our senior executives are critical to the success of our business and any inability to retain them or recruit and successfully integrate new personnel could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our senior management has a solid history in the container leasing industry. We rely on this knowledge and experience in our strategic planning and in our day-to-day business operations. Our success depends in large part upon our ability to retain our senior management, the loss of one or more of whom could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our success also depends on our ability to retain our experienced sales force and technical personnel as well as recruit new skilled sales, marketing, and technical personnel. Competition for these individuals in our industry is intense and we may not be able to successfully recruit, train or retain qualified personnel. If we fail to retain and recruit the necessary personnel, our business, and our ability to obtain new container lessees and provide acceptable levels of customer service could suffer. We have “at will” employment agreements with all of our executive officers.

The lack of an international title registry for containers increases the risk of ownership disputes.

Although the Bureau International des Containers registers and allocates a four letter prefix to every container in accordance with ISO standard 6346 (Freight container coding, identification and marking) to identify the owner/operator and each container has a unique prefix and serial number, there is no internationally recognized system of recordation or filing to evidence our title to containers nor is there an internationally recognized system for filing security interests in containers. Although this has not occurred to date, the lack of a title recordation system with respect to containers could result in disputes with lessees, end-users, or third parties who may improperly claim ownership of containers.

We may incur costs associated with cargo security regulations, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may be subject to regulations promulgated in various countries, including the U.S., seeking to protect the integrity of international commerce and prevent the use of containers for international terrorism or other illicit activities. For example, the Container Security Initiative, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Operation Safe Commerce are among the programs administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that are designed to enhance security for cargo moving throughout the international transportation system by identifying existing vulnerabilities in the supply chain and developing improved methods for ensuring the security of containerized cargo entering and leaving the U.S. Moreover, the International Convention for Safe Containers, 1972, as amended, adopted by the International Maritime Organization, applies to containers, and seeks to maintain a high level of safety of human life in the transport and handling of containers by providing uniform international safety regulations. As these regulations develop and change, we may incur compliance costs due to the acquisition of new, compliant containers and/or the adaptation of existing containers to meet new requirements imposed by such regulations. Additionally, certain companies are currently developing or may in the future develop products designed to enhance the security of containers transported in international commerce. Regardless of the existence of current or future government regulations mandating the safety standards of intermodal shipping containers, our competitors may adopt such products, or our container lessees may require that we adopt such products. In responding to such market pressures, we may incur increased costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Environmental liability and regulations may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants to air, ground and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the cleanup of contaminated sites. We could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines and costs arising out of third-party claims for property or natural resource damage and personal injury, as a result of violations of or liabilities under or compliance with environmental laws and regulations in connection with our or our lessees’ current or historical operations. Under some environmental laws in the U.S. and certain other countries, the owner or operator of a container may be liable for environmental damage, cleanup, or other costs in the event of a spill or discharge of material from

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the container without regard to the fault of the owner or operator. While we typically maintain certain limited liability insurance and typically require lessees to provide us with indemnity against certain losses, the insurance coverage may not be sufficient to protect against any or all liabilities and such indemnities may not be sufficient, or available, to protect us against losses arising from environmental damage. Moreover, our lessees may not have adequate resources, or may refuse to honor their indemnity obligations and our insurance coverage is subject to large deductibles, coverage limits and significant exclusions.

Environmental regulations also impact container production and operation, including regulations on the use of chemical refrigerants due to their ozone depleting and global warming effects. Our refrigerated containers currently use R134A refrigerant. While R134A does not contain chlorofluorocarbons (“CFCs”), the European Union (“EU”) instituted regulations to phase out the use of R134A in automobile air conditioning systems which began in 2011 due to concern that the release of R134A into the atmosphere may contribute to global warming. While the European Union regulations do not currently restrict the use of R134A in refrigerated containers or trailers, it is possible that the phase out of R134A in automobile air conditioning systems will be extended to containers in the future and our operations could be impacted. It has been proposed that R134A usage in containers be banned beginning in 2025, although the final decision has not been made as of yet.

Container production also raises environmental concerns. The floors of dry freight containers are plywood typically made from tropical hardwoods. Due to concerns regarding de-forestation and climate change, many countries have implemented severe restrictions on the cutting and export of this wood. Accordingly, container manufacturers have switched a significant portion of production to alternatives such as birch, bamboo, and other farm grown wood and users are also evaluating alternative designs that would limit the amount of plywood required and are also considering possible synthetic materials. New woods or other alternatives have not proven their durability over the typical life of a dry freight container, and if they cannot perform as well as the hardwoods have historically, the future repair and operating costs for these containers may be impacted. The insulation foam in the walls of certain refrigerated containers requires the use of a blowing agent that contains CFCs. Manufacturers are phasing out the use of this blowing agent in manufacturing, however, if future regulations prohibit the use or servicing of containers with insulation manufactured with this blowing agent, we could be forced to incur large retrofitting expenses and these containers might bring lower rental rates and disposal prices. EU regulations currently restrict the sale or use of refrigerated containers manufactured with the CFC containing blowing agent and strict enforcement of these regulations could impact our ability to lease or sell these refrigerated containers in EU countries. The container industry in China historically used solvent-based paint systems. Regulations in China for the container industry required stopping the use of solvent-based paint systems in 2017, due to the restrictions on volatile organic compounds used in solvent-based paints. To comply with the regulations, new water borne paint systems were developed and are being used by container manufacturers. The use of water borne paint systems has required significant factory investment and it is problematic to apply water borne paint during the winter in colder parts of China. The conversion to water borne paint impacts factory capacity, increases the cost of containers and requires greater investment by us in container inspection and factory supervision. The industry does not have significant years of experience with water borne paint and the long term durability of water borne paint may not be the same as solvent based paint which could impact the useful life and resale value of containers with water borne paint.

We are subject to certain U.S. laws that may impact our international operations and any investigation or determination that we violated these laws may affect our business and operations adversely.

As a Bermuda corporation that has an indirect wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary with operations in the U.S., our U.S. operations are subject to certain U.S. laws that may also impact our international operations. We are subject to the regulations imposed by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which generally prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business. We are also subject to U.S. Executive Orders and U.S. Treasury sanctions regulations restricting or prohibiting business dealings in or with certain nations and with certain specially designated nationals (individuals and legal entities). Any determination or investigation into violations of these laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We could face litigation involving our management of containers for container investors.

We manage containers for container investors under management agreements that are negotiated with each container investor. We make no assurances to container investors that they will make any amount of profit on their investment or that our management activities will result in any particular level of income or return of their initial capital. Although our

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management agreements contain contractual protections and indemnities that are designed to limit our exposure to such litigation, such provisions may not be effective, and we may be subject to a significant loss in a successful litigation by a container investor.

 

Tax Risks Related to Our Business and Investment in Our Common and Preferred Shares

U.S. investors in our company could suffer adverse tax consequences if we are characterized as a passive foreign investment company for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Based upon the nature of our business activities, we could become classified as a passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Such characterization could result in adverse U.S. tax consequences to direct or indirect U.S. investors in our common and preferred shares. For example, if we are a PFIC, our U.S. investors could become subject to increased tax liabilities under U.S. tax laws and regulations and could become subject to burdensome reporting requirements. The determination of whether or not we are a PFIC is made on an annual basis and depends on the composition of our income and assets from time to time. Specifically, for any taxable year we will be classified as a PFIC for U.S. tax purposes if either:

75% or more of our gross income in the taxable year is passive income, or
the average percentage of our assets (which includes cash) by value in a taxable year which produce or are held for the production of passive income is at least 50%.

In applying these tests, we are treated as owning or generating directly our pro rata share of the assets and income of any corporation in which we own at least 25% by value. In addition, the composition of our income and assets will be affected by how, and how quickly, we spend the cash we have raised.

Under the PFIC rules, unless a U.S. investor is permitted to and does elect otherwise under the Internal Revenue Code, such U.S. investor would be liable to pay U.S. federal income tax at the then prevailing income tax rates on ordinary income plus interest upon excess distributions and upon any gain from the disposition of our common and preferred shares, as if the excess distribution or gain had been recognized ratably over the investor’s holding period for our common and preferred shares. Based on the composition of our income, valuation of our assets, and our election to treat certain of our subsidiaries as disregarded entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we do not believe we were a PFIC for any period after our initial public offering (“IPO”) date and we do not expect that we should be treated as a PFIC for our current taxable year. However, there can be no assurance at all in this regard. Because the PFIC determination is highly fact intensive and made at the end of each taxable year, it is possible that we may be a PFIC for the current or any future taxable year or that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may challenge our determination concerning our PFIC status.

We may become subject to unanticipated tax liabilities that may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Textainer Group Holdings Limited is a Bermuda company, and we believe that a significant portion of the income derived from our operations will not be subject to tax in Bermuda, which currently has no corporate income tax, or in many other countries in which we conduct activities or in which our customers or containers are located. However, this belief is based on the anticipated nature and conduct of our business, which may change. It is also based on our understanding of our position under the tax laws of the countries in which we have assets or conduct activities. This position is subject to review and possible challenge by taxing authorities and to possible changes in law that may have retroactive effect.

A portion of our income is treated as effectively connected with our conduct of a trade or business within the U.S., and is accordingly subject to U.S. federal income tax. It is possible that the IRS may challenge that a greater portion of our income is effectively connected income that should be subject to U.S. federal income tax.

Our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected if we become subject to a significant amount of unanticipated tax liabilities.

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Our U.S. subsidiaries may be treated as personal holding companies for U.S. federal tax purposes now or in the future.

Any of our direct or indirect U.S. subsidiaries could be subject to additional U.S. tax on a portion of its income if it is considered to be a personal holding company (“PHC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. This status depends on whether more than 50% of the subsidiary’s shares by value could be deemed to be owned (taking into account constructive ownership rules) by five or fewer individuals and whether 60% or more of the subsidiary’s adjusted ordinary gross income consists of “personal holding company income,” which includes certain forms of passive and investment income. The PHC rules do not apply to non-U.S. corporations. We believe that none of our U.S. subsidiaries should be considered PHCs. In addition, we intend to cause our U.S. subsidiaries to manage their affairs in a manner that reduces the possibility that they will meet the 60% income threshold. However, because of the lack of complete information regarding our ultimate share ownership (i.e., particularly as determined by constructive ownership rules), our U.S. subsidiaries may become PHCs in the future and, in that event, the amount of U.S. federal income tax that would be imposed could be material.

Changes in tax laws or their application could adversely affect the results of our operations.

Our worldwide operations are taxed under the laws of the jurisdictions in which we operate. However, the integrated nature of our worldwide operations can produce conflicting claims from revenue authorities in different countries as to the profits to be taxed in the individual countries, including disputes relating to transfer pricing. Some of the jurisdictions in which we operate have double tax treaties with other foreign jurisdictions, which provide a framework for mitigating the impact of double taxation on our revenues and capital gains. However, mechanisms developed to resolve such conflicting claims are largely uncertain and can be expected to be very lengthy in coming to a final determination in the applicable jurisdictions.

In recent years, tax authorities around the world have increased their scrutiny of company tax filings and have become more rigid in exercising any discretion they may have. As part of this, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) has proposed a number of tax law changes under its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) Action Plans to address issues of transparency, coherence and substance.

These OECD tax reform initiatives also need local country implementation, including in Bermuda and the U.S., which may result in significant changes to established tax principles. In response to EU efforts to investigate the tax policies of non-EU jurisdictions, effective December 31, 2018 Bermuda adopted the Economic Substance Act of 2018, which requires that Bermuda registered entities engaged in certain relevant activities (which include finance, leasing and shipping) maintain sufficient economic substance and activities in Bermuda. The failure to comply with the Economic Substance Act may result in fines and penalties and ultimately the striking off of an entity from the Bermuda corporate register. We may be unable to comply with the Economic Substance Act or compliance with the act may materially adversely impact our operations and results. Penalties for noncompliance could adversely affect our operations and results.

 

On March 27, 2020, the US Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES”) of 2020 was signed into law. For applicable impacted years, the CARES Act introduced measures such as (1) additional carryback years as well as the elimination of the 80% taxable income limitation on net operating losses (“NOL”) usage; (2) enhanced interest deductibility on 163(j) business interest expense (raising adjusted taxable income deduction limit threshold from 30% to 50%); (3) accelerated alternative minimum tax credit refunds; (4) retroactive technical correction of qualified improvement property costs recovery period; (5) enhanced deductibility of charitable contributions from 10% of taxable income limitation to 25%; and (6) introduced payroll tax deferral programs and loan forgiveness programs (Paycheck Protection Program). None of these measures have a material impact on the Company’s tax situation.

Increases in income tax rates or other changes in tax laws, including changes in how existing tax laws are interpreted or enforced, may adversely affect our financial performance. For example, numerous countries have agreed to a statement in support of the OECD model rules that propose a partial global profit reallocation and a global minimum tax rate of 15% and European Union member states have recently agreed to implement the global minimum tax. There can be no assurance that other individual countries will adopt these changes, or that once adopted by any country, that these changes will not have adverse effects on our financial performance.

In general, such tax reform efforts, including with respect to tax base or rate, transfer pricing, intercompany dividends, cross border transactions, controlled corporations, and limitations on tax relief allowed on the interest on intercompany debt,

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will require us to continually assess our organizational structure against tax policy trends, and could lead to an increased risk of international tax disputes and an increase in our effective tax rate, and could adversely affect our financial results.

Our ability to use our net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

We have significant net operating loss carry-forwards in the United States. As of December 31, 2022, we had net operating loss carry-forwards relating to U.S. federal income taxes; $69,807 which will begin to expire from December 31, 2032 through December 31, 2037 if not utilized and $6,943 has no expiration date.

In the United States, utilization of these net operating loss carry-forwards for federal income tax purposes may be subject to an annual limitation if there is an ownership change within the meaning of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 382”). In general, an ownership change within the meaning of Section 382 occurs if a transaction or series of transactions over a three-year period result in a cumulative change of more than 50% in the beneficial ownership of a company’s stock. We do not believe we have a limitation on the ability to utilize our net operating loss carry-forwards under Section 382 as of December 31, 2022. However, issuances, sales and/or exchanges of our stock (including, potentially, relatively small transactions and transactions beyond our control) occurring after December 31, 2022, taken together with prior transactions with respect to our stock over a three-year period, could trigger an ownership change under Section 382 in the future and therefore a limitation on our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards. Any such limitation could cause some loss carryforwards to expire before we would be able to utilize them to reduce taxable income in future periods, possibly resulting in a substantial income tax expense or write down of our tax assets or both.

The calculation of our income tax expense requires judgment and the use of estimates.

We periodically assess tax positions based on current tax developments, including enacted statutory, judicial, and regulatory guidance. In analyzing our overall tax position, consideration is given to the amount and timing of recognizing income tax liabilities and benefits. In applying the tax and accounting guidance to the facts and circumstances, income tax balances are adjusted appropriately through the income tax provision. We account for income tax positions on uncertainties by recognizing the effect of income tax positions only if those positions are more likely than not of being sustained and maintain reserves for income tax positions we believe are not more likely than not of being sustained. Recognized income tax positions are measured at the largest amount that is greater than 50% likely of being realized. However, due to the judgment required in estimating those reserves, actual amounts paid, if any, could differ from these estimates.

Risks Related to Our Common Shares, Preferred Shares and Public Listings

Any dividends paid in the future could be reduced or eliminated.

We eliminated our common share dividend payment in the fourth quarter of 2016. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we announced the commencement of dividends on our common shares. While common share dividends have been reinstated, any future dividend could again be eliminated or reduced. The declaration, amount and payment of future dividends are at the discretion of our board of directors and will be dependent on our future operating results and the cash requirements of our business. There are a number of factors that can affect our ability to pay dividends and there is no guarantee that we will pay dividends in any given year, in each quarter of a year, or pay any specific amount of dividends. In addition, we will not pay dividends in the event we are not allowed to do so under Bermuda law, are in default under (or such payment would cause a default under) TL’s revolving credit facilities or term loan, or if such payment would cause us to breach any of our covenants. These covenants include certain financial covenants, which would be directly affected by the payment of dividends, such as a maximum ratio of consolidated funded debt to consolidated tangible net worth (which amount would decrease by the amount of any dividend paid). The reduction, suspension or elimination of dividends may negatively affect the market price of our common and preferred shares. Furthermore, since we are a holding company, substantially all the assets shown on our consolidated balance sheet are held by our subsidiaries. Accordingly, our earnings and cash flow and our ability to pay dividends are largely dependent upon the earnings and cash flows of our subsidiaries and the distribution or other payment of such earnings to us in the form of dividends as permitted under our lending agreements.

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We face risks from our share repurchase program.

In September 2019, we announced a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $25 million of our shares; the program has been increased several times and currently is authorized to repurchase up to a total of $450 million of our shares. Purchases under this program are at our discretion and we may not purchase all $450 million of shares authorized under the program. This program may be increased, reduced, or terminated at any time by us. Share repurchases may reduce our financial flexibility, limit our ability to reduce debt, limit our ability to continue or increase our dividend program and may reduce our funds available for container investments. Using funds to repurchase shares could cause our debt to equity ratio to increase and may impair our ability to comply with the financial covenants in our debt agreements. Share repurchases may also reduce the number of shares available for other investors to purchase in the market which could add to share price volatility for our stock. We face these and other risks related to share repurchases. During 2022, 2021 and 2020, the Company repurchased 5,636,772, 2,426,725 and 6,736,493 shares, respectively, for a total amount of approximately $179 million, $72 million and $69 million, respectively.

The market price and trading volume of our common and preferred shares, which may be affected by market conditions beyond our control, have been volatile and could continue to remain volatile.

The market price of our common and preferred shares has been and may continue to be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume in our common and preferred shares has fluctuated and may continue to fluctuate, causing significant price variations to occur. Since our initial public offering, our common shares have fluctuated from an intra-day low of $4.23 per share to an intra-day high of $43.96 per share. If the market price of the shares declines significantly, the value of an investment in our shares would decline. The market price of our common and/or preferred shares may fluctuate or decline significantly in the future. Some of the factors that could negatively affect the price of our common or preferred shares or result in fluctuations in the price or trading volume of our common or preferred shares include:

variations in our quarterly operating results;
failure to meet analysts’ earnings estimates;
publication of research reports about us, other intermodal container lessors or the container shipping industry or the failure of securities analysts to cover our shares or our industry;
additions or departures of key management personnel;
adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or preferred or common shares we may issue in the future;
changes in our dividend payment or share repurchase policies or failure to execute our existing policies;
actions by shareholders;
changes in market valuations of similar companies;
announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;
speculation in the press or investment community;
changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations affecting the container shipping industry or enforcement of these laws and regulations, or announcements relating to these matters; and
impact of global financial crises or stock market disruptions.

Recently and in the past, the stock market has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. These market fluctuations could result in extreme volatility in the trading price of our common or preferred shares, which could cause a decline in the value of your investment in our common or preferred shares. In addition, the trading price of our common or preferred shares could decline for reasons unrelated to our business or financial results, including in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry even if those events do not directly affect us. You should also be aware that price volatility may be greater if the public float and trading volume of our common or preferred shares are low.

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We face risks related to our dual listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and our relationship with Trencor.

Trencor Limited, a company traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (the “JSE”) in South Africa, owned approximately 47.5% of our issued and outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2018. In December 2019 we commenced a secondary, or dual, listing of our common shares on the JSE under the symbol “TXT”. Promptly following our dual listing, Trencor distributed approximately 24.3 million of its shares in the Company to Trencor’s own shareholders and these shares are now trading on the JSE. In June 2020, Trencor distributed its remaining 3.0 million shares in the Company to Trencor’s own shareholders and those shares trade on the JSE. Following the June 2020 distribution of shares, Trencor no longer holds any shares in the Company. One of our ten directors is also a director of Trencor, and this director owes fiduciary duties to each company and may have conflicts of interest in matters involving or affecting us as well as Trencor. Any sale or transfer of some or all of the common shares owned by large South African shareholders could adversely affect our share price.

While our primary listing remains on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, and we follow the corporate governance requirements applicable to a Bermuda company listed as a foreign private issuer on the NYSE, holders of our TXT shares on the JSE, may seek to impose on us some or all of the corporate governance practices applicable to South African companies which may result in constraints on management and may involve significant costs. These include the King IV Report on Corporate Governance, a document accepted by the JSE and promulgated by the South African Institute of Directors which, among other things, suggests that corporations in their corporate decision-making consider the following stakeholders in addition to the owners of shares: parties who contract with the enterprise; parties who have a non-contractual nexus with the enterprise (including civil society and the environment); and the state.

Any future issuance of securities by us on the JSE would be subject to compliance with JSE rules and subject to review by the JSE and possibly South African exchange control regulations. These requirements could restrict or limit our ability to issue new shares in South Africa. If a significant percentage of our shares remain on the JSE, limits on our ability to issue new equity in South Africa could materially impact our ability to access capital for growth and negatively impact our business.

If we are unwilling or unable to comply with the current or future continuing listing requirements of the JSE we may have our shares delisted from the JSE. The JSE is the primary stock exchange in South Africa and there are restrictions on South African investors holding securities outside South Africa, including on the NYSE. A delisting from the JSE might cause significant sales of our common shares and negatively impact the price of our common shares on the NYSE. If we wish to voluntarily delist our shares from the JSE we may be required to provide a cash tender offer to all holders on the JSE and we may be unwilling or financially unable to do so, which could limit our ability to avoid negative share price impacts from any delisting of our common shares on the JSE.

We are a holding company with no material direct operations and rely on our operating subsidiaries to provide us with funds necessary to meet our financial obligations and to pay dividends.

We are a holding company with no material direct operations. Our principal assets are the equity interests we directly or indirectly hold in our operating subsidiaries, which own our operating assets. As a result, we are dependent on loans, dividends, and other payments from our subsidiaries to generate the funds necessary to meet our financial obligations and to pay dividends on our common and preferred shares. Our subsidiaries are legally distinct from us and may be prohibited or restricted from paying dividends or otherwise making funds available to us under certain conditions or lending covenants. If we are unable to obtain funds from our subsidiaries, we may be unable to, or our board may exercise its discretion not to pay dividends on our common or preferred shares.

It may not be possible for investors to enforce U.S. judgments against us.

We and all of our direct and indirect subsidiaries, except Textainer Equipment Management (U.S.) Limited and Textainer Equipment Management (U.S.) II LLC, are incorporated in jurisdictions outside the U.S. A substantial portion of our assets and those of our subsidiaries are located outside of the U.S. In addition, several of our directors are non-residents of the U.S., and all or a substantial portion of the assets of these non-residents are located outside the U.S. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for U.S. investors to serve process within the U.S. upon us, our non-U.S. subsidiaries, or our directors, or to enforce a judgment against us for civil liabilities in U.S. courts. In addition, you should not assume that courts in the countries in which we or our subsidiaries are incorporated or where our assets or the assets of our subsidiaries are located would enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained in actions against us or our subsidiaries based upon the civil liability provisions of applicable U.S. federal and state securities laws, or would enforce, in original actions, liabilities against us or our subsidiaries based on those laws.

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We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, under NYSE rules, we are not required to comply with certain corporate governance requirements.

As a foreign private issuer, we are permitted by the NYSE to comply with Bermuda corporate governance practice in lieu of complying with certain NYSE corporate governance requirements. This means that we are not required to comply with NYSE requirements that:

the board of directors consists of a majority of independent directors;
independent directors meet in regularly scheduled executive sessions;
the audit committee satisfy NYSE standards for director independence (although we must still comply with independence standards pursuant to Rule 10A-3 promulgated under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended);
the audit committee have a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities;
we have a corporate governance and nominating committee composed of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities;
we have a compensation committee composed of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities;
we establish corporate governance guidelines and a code of business conduct;
our shareholders approve any equity compensation plans; and
there be an annual performance evaluation of the nominating and corporate governance and compensation committees.

Our board of directors has adopted an audit committee charter, a compensation committee charter and a corporate governance and nominating committee charter. Additionally, we have a company code of conduct, corporate governance guidelines, conduct performance evaluations of our board and committees, and have obtained shareholder approval for our equity compensation plan. Our board of directors consists of a majority of independent directors and our Board committees consist solely of independent directors. However, we may use some of the exemptions available to a foreign private issuer. Accordingly, our shareholders may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance requirements.

Required public company corporate governance and financial reporting practices and policies have increased our costs, and we may be unable to provide the required financial information in a timely and reliable manner.

Our management may not be able to continue to meet the regulatory compliance and reporting requirements that are applicable to us as a public company. This result may subject us to adverse regulatory consequences and could lead to a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements. If we do not maintain compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal controls over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, we could suffer a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could cause the market price of our shares to decline.

In addition, if we fail to maintain effective controls and procedures, we may be unable to provide the required financial information in a timely and reliable manner or otherwise comply with the standards applicable to us as a public company. Any failure by us to timely provide the required financial information could materially and adversely impact our financial condition and the market value of our shares. Furthermore, testing and maintaining internal controls can divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to our business. These regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs, we expect the regulations to make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified officers and directors, particularly to serve on our audit and risk committee, and make some activities more difficult, time consuming and costly.

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Future sales of a large number of our securities into the public market, or the expectation of such sales, could cause the market price of our common or preferred shares to decline significantly.

Sales of substantial amounts of common securities into the public market, or the perception that such sales will occur, may cause the market price of our common or preferred shares to decline significantly. In September 2012, we completed a sale of 8,625,000 common shares, including 2,500,000 common shares offered by a selling shareholder, Halco. The price of our shares could be negatively impacted if we undertake additional offerings to sell securities. In addition, at our 2019 Annual General Meeting our shareholders approved an amendment and restatement of the 2015 Share Incentive Plan as the 2019 Share Incentive Plan and to increase the maximum number of our common shares issuable pursuant to such plan by 2,500,000 shares and to extend the term of such plan for ten years from the date of the annual meeting of shareholders. The common shares to be issued pursuant to awards under our 2019 Share Incentive Plan have been registered on registration statements on Form S-8 filed with the Securities Exchange Commission and, when issued, will be freely tradable under the Securities Act of 1933.

We have provisions in our bye-laws and in our preferred shares that may discourage a change of control.

Bermuda law and our bye-laws contain provisions that could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us without the consent of our board of directors. These include provisions:

requiring the approval of not less than 66% of our issued and outstanding voting shares for certain merger or amalgamation transactions that have not been approved by our board of directors;
prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested shareholder for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person becomes an interested shareholder, unless certain conditions are met;
authorizing our board of directors to issue blank-check preference shares without shareholder approval;
establishing a classified board with staggered three-year terms;
only authorizing the removal of directors (i) for cause by the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the votes cast at a meeting or (ii) without cause by the affirmative vote of the holders of 66% of the common shares then issued and outstanding and entitled to vote on the resolution; and
establishing advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors.

These provisions may make it difficult and expensive for a third party to pursue a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt that is opposed by our management and/or our board of directors. Public shareholders who might desire to participate in these types of transactions may not have an opportunity to do so. Additionally on a change of control, subject to certain conditions, preferred shareholders have the right to convert some or all preferred shares to common shares. These provisions could substantially impede the ability of public shareholders to benefit from a change in control or change our management and board of directors and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common shares and your ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

As a shareholder of our company, you may have greater difficulties in protecting your interests than as a shareholder of a U.S. or South African corporation.

The Companies Act 1981 of Bermuda, as amended (the “Companies Act”), applies to our company and differs in material respects from laws generally applicable to U.S. or South African corporations and their shareholders. Taken together with the provisions of our bye-laws, some of these differences may result in you having greater difficulties in protecting your interests as a shareholder of our company than you would have as a shareholder of a U.S. corporation listed on NYSE or a South Africa corporation listed on the JSE. This affects, among other things, the circumstances under which transactions involving an interested director are voidable, whether an interested director can be held accountable for any benefit realized in a transaction with our company, what approvals are required for business combinations by our company with a large shareholder or a wholly-owned subsidiary, what rights you may have as a shareholder to enforce specified provisions of the Companies Act or our bye-laws, and the circumstances under which we may indemnify our directors and officers.

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Our bye-laws restrict shareholders from bringing legal action against our officers and directors.

Our bye-laws contain a broad waiver by our shareholders of any claims or right of action, both individually and on our behalf, against any of our officers or directors. The waiver applies to any action taken by an officer or director, or the failure of an officer or director to take any action, in the performance of his or her duties, except with respect to any matter involving any fraud or dishonesty on the part of the officer or director. This waiver limits the right of shareholders to assert claims against our officers and directors unless the act or failure to act involves fraud.

ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

 

A.
History and Development of the Company

Our business began operations in 1979. We reorganized our business in 1993 and incorporated Textainer Group Holdings Limited under the laws of Bermuda as a holding company of a group of corporations involved in the purchase, ownership, management, leasing and disposal of a fleet of intermodal containers. Textainer Group Holdings Limited is incorporated with an indefinite duration under registration number EC18896.

Textainer Group Holdings Limited’s common shares are primary listed on the NYSE under the symbol “TGH”. The Company’s common shares are secondary listed on the JSE in Johannesburg, South Africa under the symbol “TXT”. Textainer Group Holdings Limited’s headquarters office is located at Century House, 16 Par-La-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 08 Bermuda and our telephone number is (441) 296-2500. Our agent in the United States is Daniel W. Cohen, Textainer Group Holdings Limited, c/o Textainer Equipment Management (U.S.) Limited, 650 California Street, 16th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108.

At December 31, 2022, Textainer Group Holdings Limited had two directly owned subsidiaries:

Textainer Equipment Management Limited (“TEML”), our wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in Bermuda, which together with its four wholly-owned subsidiaries (see Item 4 (C), “Organizational Structure”) provides container management, acquisition and disposal services to affiliated and unaffiliated container investors; and
Textainer Limited (“TL”), our wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in Bermuda, which owns containers directly and via two subsidiaries:
Textainer Marine Containers II Limited (“TMCL II”), a Bermuda company which is wholly-owned by TL; and
Textainer Marine Containers VII Limited (“TMCL VII”), a Bermuda company which is wholly-owned by TL.

Our internet website address is www.textainer.com. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated into and is not intended to be a part of this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

 

See Item 5, “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” for further information regarding recent developments in our business.

 

B.
Business Overview

 

Our Company

 

We are one of the world’s largest lessors of intermodal containers based on fleet size, with a total fleet of approximately 2.7 million containers, representing 4.4 million TEU. Containers are an integral component of intermodal trade, providing a secure and cost-effective method of transportation because they can be used to transport freight by ship, rail or truck, making it possible to move cargo from point of origin to final destination without repeated unpacking and repacking.

We lease containers to approximately 200 shipping lines and other lessees, including all of the world’s leading international shipping lines, as measured by the total TEU capacity of their container vessels. We believe that our scale, global presence, customer service, market knowledge and long history with our customers have made us one of the most

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reliable suppliers of leased containers. We have a long track record in the industry, operating since 1979, and have developed long-standing relationships with key industry participants.

We operate our business in three core segments.

Container Ownership. As of December 31, 2022, we owned containers accounting for approximately 94% of our fleet.
Container Management. As of December 31, 2022, we managed containers on behalf of 10 unaffiliated container investors, providing acquisition, management and disposal services. As of December 31, 2022, total managed containers accounted for approximately 6% of our fleet.
Container Resale. We generally sell containers from our fleet when they reach the end of their useful lives in marine service or when we believe it is financially attractive for us to do so, considering location, sale price, the cost of repair, and possible repositioning expenses. We also purchase and lease or resell containers from shipping line customers, container traders and other sellers of containers.

Our container lessees use containers for their global trade utilizing many worldwide trade routes. The Company earns its revenue from these international carriers when the containers are on lease. Our total revenues primarily consist of leasing revenues derived from the lease of owned and managed containers. The most important driver of our profitability is the extent to which revenues on our owned fleet and management fee income exceed our operating costs. The key drivers of our revenues are fleet size, rental rates and utilization.

Our operating costs primarily consist of depreciation, direct costs related to the operations of our owned and managed fleet, and interest expense. Our lessees are generally responsible for loss of or damage to a container beyond ordinary wear and tear, and they are required to purchase insurance to cover any other liabilities.

Industry Overview

Containers

 

Containers are built in accordance with standard dimensions and weight specifications established by the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”). The industry-standard measurement unit is the Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (“TEU”), which compares the length of a container to a standard 20′ container. For example, a 20′ container is equivalent to one TEU and a 40′ container is equivalent to two TEU. Standard dry freight containers are typically 8′ wide, come in lengths of 20′, 40′ or 45′ and are either 8′6″ or 9′6″ high. The principal types of containers are described as follows:

Dry freight standard containers. A dry freight standard container is constructed of steel sides, roof, an end panel on one end and a set of doors on the other end, a wooden floor and a steel undercarriage. Dry freight standard containers are the least expensive and most commonly used type of container. They are used to carry general cargo, such as manufactured component parts, consumer staples, electronics and apparel. The largest portion of our fleet is comprised of dry freight containers, which are by far the most common of the three principal types of intermodal containers.

 

Dry freight specialized containers. Dry freight specialized containers consist of open-top and flat-rack containers. An open-top container is similar in construction to a dry freight standard container except that the roof is replaced with a tarpaulin supported by removable roof bows. A flat-rack container is a heavily reinforced steel platform with a wood deck and steel end panels. Open-top and flat-rack containers are generally used to transport heavy or oversized cargo, such as marble slabs, building products, vehicles, or machinery.

 

Refrigerated containers. Refrigerated containers include an integral refrigeration unit on one end which plugs into an outside power source and are fitted with insulation. Refrigerated containers are used to transport perishable goods such as fresh and frozen produce.

 

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Other containers. Other containers include tank containers, 45′ containers, pallet-wide containers and other types of containers. The most prominent type of such containers are tank containers which are stainless steel cylindrical tanks enclosed in rectangular steel frames. Tank containers are used to transport liquid bulk products such as chemicals, oils, and other liquids.

Containers provide a secure and cost-effective method of transportation because they can be used in multiple modes of transportation, making it possible to move cargo from a point of origin to a final destination without repeated unpacking and repacking. As a result, containers reduce transit time and freight and labor costs, as they permit faster loading and unloading of shipping vessels and more efficient transportation of cargo than traditional break bulk shipping methods. The protection provided by containers also reduces damage, loss and theft of cargo during shipment. While the useful life of containers varies based upon the damage and normal wear and tear suffered by the container, we estimate that our useful life for a standard dry freight container used in intermodal transportation is on average 13 to 14 years. Some shipping lines have recently indicated that they intend to keep their containers for longer than 13 to 14 years.

 

Container Leasing

Container leasing companies primarily lease containers to container shipping lines. Container shipping lines own and lease containers for their use and have historically relied on leased containers to satisfy their needs. Leasing containers provide shipping lines with an alternative source of financing such as their need to allocate capital to new ship purchases, low sulphur emissions compliance and port terminals. The Container Census & Leasing Review and Forecast of the Container Equipment Fleet (2022/2023 Annual Report), published by Drewry Maritime Research, estimates that as of December 2021, leasing companies owned approximately 51% of the total worldwide container fleet of approximately 49.9 million TEU. We estimated that leasing companies owned approximately 50% of the total worldwide container fleet, as of end of 2022.

Although there was a reduction in container capital expenditures in 2022 following the surge in new container production and ordering in 2021 by both leasing companies and shipping lines, depot container inventory is still at a low level as evidenced by the continued high utilization rates throughout the industry. Given the uncertainty and variability of export volumes and the fact that shipping lines have difficulty in accurately forecasting their container requirements at different ports, the availability of containers for lease significantly reduces a shipping line’s need to purchase and maintain excess container inventory. Leasing allows shipping lines to adjust their container fleets both seasonally and over time and helps balance their trade flows. In addition, the flexibility provided by leasing also allow shipping lines to manage the availability and location of containers and increase their ability to meet peak demand requirements.

The container shipping market and hence the demand for containers, is mainly driven by the rate of trade growth in global GDP and changes in per capita income as this influences consumption. Lease rates for new containers are positively but not exclusively correlated to the price of new containers, which is positively correlated with the price of steel, a major component used in the manufacture of new containers. The shipping business has been characterized by cyclical swings due in part to lengthy periods of excess or scarce vessel capacity. We believe that these sustained periods of vessel supply/demand imbalances are mainly a function of the multi-year ordering and production cycle associated with the manufacture of new vessels, which requires shipping lines to estimate market growth many years into the future, and the shipping line industry’s shift to the use of significantly larger vessels. Container leasing companies are partially insulated from the risks of these shipping cycles by the relatively short production time associated with the manufacture of new containers. Lead times for new container orders are typically only a few months, so the rate of new container ordering can be quickly adjusted to reflect unexpected market changes.

Competitive Strengths and Business Strategies

 

One of the Largest Container Lessors in the Industry and Be the Most Reliable Supplier of Quality Containers.

 

We operate one of the world’s largest fleets of leased intermodal containers. We provide our services worldwide via a network of regional and area offices and independent depots. Our consistent presence in the market buying and selling containers provides us with broad market intelligence, and valuable insight into the demand patterns of our shipping line customers and resale container buyers.

 

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We continue to provide superior equipment and ensure that it is available in the right location and at the right time. Having one of the world’s largest container fleets, we are in a strong position to be the most reliable supplier of dry freight containers to meet the demands of shipping lines.

 

Proven Ability to Grow Our Fleet Over Time and Continue to Pursue Attractive Container Related Acquisition Opportunities.

 

Our ability to invest in our fleet has allowed us to become one the world’s largest container lessors. We have demonstrated our ability to increase the size of our container fleet by purchasing containers from manufacturers and by acquiring existing container fleets or their management rights from former competitors and from our managed fleet with container investors. We endeavor to make regular purchases of containers to replace older containers and increase the size of our fleet. As one of the largest buyers of new containers, we have developed strong relationships with container manufacturers. These relationships, along with our large volume buying power and solid financial structure, enable us to reliably purchase containers during periods of high demand and grow our market share with our existing customers.

 

Ability to Generate Attractive Returns Throughout the Container Life-Cycle and Focus on Maintaining High Levels of Utilization.

 

One of our strengths is our ability to generate attractive revenue streams throughout the economic life of a container in marine service and upon resale of the container at the end of its marine service life. At the end of a lease’s initial term, we generally have the ability to either negotiate an extension of the lease term or to take back the container and re-lease or sell it in order to maximize the container’s return. We focus on renewing or extending our long-term container leases beyond their expiration dates, typically from three to five or more years from the start of the lease. In addition, we attempt to negotiate favorable return provisions on all leases and maintain an active presence in the master and spot lease markets. This flexibility, coupled with our international coverage, organization and resources, allows us to deploy containers to those markets where we can re-lease or sell them on comparatively attractive terms in order to optimize our returns and the residual value of our fleet.

 

We believe that the long-term nature of our lease portfolio, as well as the presence of both owned and managed containers in our fleet, provides us with a more predictable source of revenues and operating cash flow and higher operating margins over time, enabling us to manage and grow our business more effectively. We will prioritize profitability with attractive yields on our assets through our disciplined focus on optimal lease pricing, longer-term leases and portfolio management, and by maintaining a low-cost structure.

 

Operations

 

We operate our business through a network of regional and area offices and independent depots. We maintain three regional offices as follows:

Americas Region in Cranford, New Jersey, USA responsible for North and South America;
European Region in New Malden, UK responsible for Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Africa; and
Asian Pacific Region in Singapore, responsible for Asia and Australia.

Regional vice presidents are in charge of regional leasing and operations. Marketing directors and assistants located in the regional and area offices handle day-to-day marketing and collection activities. Our operations include a global sales force, container operations group, container resale group and logistics services group. Our headquarters office is in Hamilton, Bermuda. Our administrative office is located in San Francisco, California.

 

Our Container Fleet

 

As of December 31, 2022, we operated 4,425,300 TEU. We attempt to continually invest in our container fleet each year in an effort to replace the older containers being retired from marine service and to build our fleet size. We purchased an average of approximately 420,000 TEU of new containers per year over the past five years and have been one of the largest buyers of new containers over the same period. Our ability to invest in our fleet on a consistent basis has been instrumental in becoming one of the world’s largest container lessors. The containers that we lease are either owned outright by us or

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owned by third parties and managed by us. The table below summarizes the composition of our owned and managed fleets, in TEU and CEU, by type of containers as of December 31, 2022:

 

 

 

TEU

 

 

CEU

 

 

 

Owned

 

Managed

 

Total

 

 

Owned

 

Managed

 

Total

 

Standard dry freight

 

 

3,898,769

 

 

269,985

 

 

4,168,754

 

 

 

3,443,081

 

 

239,552

 

 

3,682,633

 

Refrigerated

 

 

195,372

 

 

6,709

 

 

202,081

 

 

 

785,200

 

 

27,076

 

 

812,276

 

Other specialized

 

 

49,013

 

 

5,452

 

 

54,465

 

 

 

77,799

 

 

7,812

 

 

85,611

 

Total fleet

 

 

4,143,154

 

 

282,146

 

 

4,425,300

 

 

 

4,306,080

 

 

274,440

 

 

4,580,520

 

Percent of total fleet

 

 

93.6

%

 

6.4

%

 

100.0

%

 

 

94.0

%

 

6.0

%

 

100.0

%

 

The amounts in the table above did not change significantly from December 31, 2022 to the date of this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

Our containers are designed to meet a number of criteria outlined by the ISO. The standard criteria include the size of the container and the gross weight rating of the container. This standardization ensures that the widest possible number of transporters can use containers and it facilitates container and vessel sharing by the shipping lines. The standardization of the container is also an important element of the container leasing business since we can operate one fleet of containers that can be used by all of our customers.

Maintenance and repair of our containers is performed by independent depots that we retain in major port areas and inland locations. Such depots also handle and inspect containers that are either picked up or redelivered by lessees, and store containers that are not leased.

 

Our Leases

 

Most of our revenues are derived from leasing our owned fleet and managed fleet of containers to our core shipping line customers. The majority of our container leases are structured as operating leases, though we also provide customers with finance leases. Regardless of lease type, we seek to exceed our targeted return on our owned and managed containers over the life of each container by managing container utilization, lease rates, drop-off restrictions and the disposal process. We lease containers under three different types of operating leases (term leases, master leases and spot leases) and also under finance leases.

 

The following table provides a summary of our total on-hire container fleet by lease type as of December 31, 2022:

 

 

Percent of Total On-Hire Fleet

 

Lease Portfolio

 

TEU

 

 

CEU

 

Term leases (included units on-hire under expired term leases)

 

 

70.4

%

 

 

70.9

%

Finance leases

 

 

27.4

%

 

 

26.7

%

Master leases

 

 

1.4

%

 

 

1.7

%

Spot leases

 

 

0.8

%

 

 

0.7

%

Total

 

 

100.0

%

 

 

100.0

%

Term leases

Term leases (also referred to as long-term leases) provide a customer with a specified number of containers for a specified period, typically for 5 or more years, with an associated set of pick-up and drop-off conditions. Our term leases generally require our lessees to maintain all units on lease for the duration of the lease. Term leases also include lifecycle leases, under which lessees will lease containers until they reach a pre-specified age which is typically near the end of their useful lives rather than for a specified period. Once containers under lifecycle leases are returned to us, they are generally sold due to the age of the containers. Term leases provide us with enhanced cash flow certainty due to their extended duration but carry lower per diem rates than other lease types.

As of December 31, 2022, our term leases had an average remaining duration of 4 years, assuming no leases are renewed. However, we believe that many of our customers will renew leases for containers that are less than sale age at the expiration of the lease. In addition, for leases that are not extended our containers typically remain on-hire at the contractual

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per diem rate for an additional ten months beyond the end of the contractual lease term. For additional information about the minimum future rentals under the long-term leases for our owned and managed fleet at December 31, 2022, see Note 4 “Leases” in Item 18, “Financial Statements” in this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

Finance Leases

Finance leases provide our lessees with an alternative method to finance their container acquisitions. Finance leases are long-term in nature, typically ranging from three to thirteen years and require relatively little customer service attention. They ordinarily require fixed payments over a defined period and provide lessees with a right to purchase the subject containers for a nominal amount at the end of the lease term. Per diem rates include an element of repayment of capital and, therefore, typically are higher than rates charged under other leases. Finance leases require the lessee to keep the containers on lease for the entire term of the lease. As of December 31, 2022, our finance leases had an average remaining term of 10 years.

Master leases

Master leases provide a framework of terms and conditions pursuant to which lessees can lease containers on an as-needed basis for unspecified periods of time. Master lease terms and conditions are valid for a set period, typically one year, and provide the lessee with greater flexibility than is typical in term leases. Under our master leases, lessees know in advance their per diem rates and drop-off locations, subject to monthly drop-off location limits. In addition, under these master lease agreements, the lessee is generally not committed to leasing a minimum number of containers from us during the lease term and may generally return the containers to us at any time, subject to certain restrictions. Due to their flexibility and duration, master leases command higher per diem rates than term leases.

Spot leases

Spot leases provide the customer with containers for a relatively short lease period with fixed pick-up and drop-off locations. Spot leases are generally used to position a container to a desired location for subsequent lease or sale.

Lease Agreements

In general, our lease agreements consist of two basic elements, a master terms and conditions agreement (“Master Agreement”), and a lease schedule. Lease schedules contain the business terms (including daily rate, term duration and drop-off schedule, among other things) for specific leasing transactions, while Master Agreements outline the general rights and obligations of the lessor and lessee under all of the lease schedules covered by the Master Agreement. For most customers, we have a small number of Master Agreements (often one) and a large number of lease schedules.

Our standard Master Agreements generally require the lessees to pay rentals, depot charges, taxes and other charges when due, to maintain the containers in good condition and repair, to return the containers in good condition in accordance with the return conditions set forth in the Master Agreement, to use the containers in compliance with all laws, and to pay us for the value of the containers as determined under the terms of the agreements if the container is lost or destroyed. The default clause gives us certain legal remedies in the event that the lessee is in breach of the lease.

 

Maintenance, Repair and Damage Protection

 

Under all of our leases, our lessees are generally responsible for loss of or damage to a container beyond ordinary wear and tear, and they are required to purchase insurance to cover any other liabilities. Any damage must be repaired at the expense of the lessee according to standardized guidelines promulgated by the Institute of International Container Lessors (“IICL”). Lessees are also required to obtain insurance to cover loss of the equipment on lease, public liability and property damage insurance as well as indemnify us from claims related to their usage of the leased containers.

 

In some cases, a Damage Protection Plan (“DPP”) is provided whereby the lessee pays us a fee to assume a portion of the financial burden of repairs up to a pre-negotiated amount. A lessee may pay the DPP fee over the term of the lease in the form of a higher per-diem rate (which is recognized as earned over the term of the lease) or a fixed one-time lump sum payment upon the return of a container in exchange for not being charged for certain damages at the end of the lease term. We do not recognize DPP revenue and related expense over the lease term for customers who are billed at the end of the lease term under the DPP or for other lessees who do not participate in the DPP. Based on past history, there is uncertainty as to collectability of these amounts from lessees who are billed at the end of the lease term because the amounts due under the DPP are typically re-negotiated at the end of the lease term or the lease term is extended. Maintenance is monitored through

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inspections at the time that a container is leased out and returned. We also maintain our own insurance to cover our containers when they are not on-hire to lessees or when the lessee fails to have adequate primary coverage, and third-party liability insurance for both on-hire and off-hire containers.

 

Management Services

 

We earn management fees from management of the container investor’s containers, which include the leasing, repair, repositioning and storage of the managed fleet pursuant to management agreements with container investors. Typically, the terms of the management agreements are for the expected economic useful life in marine service of the containers subject to the agreement. Our management fees from leasing services are calculated as a percentage of net operating income of the containers. Our information technology (“IT”) systems track revenues and operating expenses attributable to specific containers and the container investors receive payments based on the net operating income of their own containers. Net operating income is calculated as the lease payment and any other revenue attributable to a container, minus operating expenses related to that container (but not depreciation or financing expenses of the container investor). The container investors are responsible for the direct container expenses incurred in the operation of the managed fleet.

 

The management fee percentage generally varies based upon the type of lease and the terms of the management agreement. Management fee percentages for long-term leases are generally lower than management fee percentages for master or spot leases because less daily involvement by management personnel is required to manage long-term leases. Fees to manage containers typically include acquisition fees of 1% to 2.5% of the purchase price; daily management fees of 8% to 12% of net operating income; and disposal fees of 5% to 10% of cash proceeds when containers are sold. If operating expenses were to exceed revenues, the container investors would be obligated to pay the excess or we would deduct the excess, including our management fee, from future net operating income.

 

We continue to serve as a long-standing supplier of leased marine containers and chassis to the U.S. Military since 2003 through our contract with the U.S. Transportation Command Directorate of Acquisition (“USTranscom”). Unlike our shipping line customers, who pick up from and return containers to container depots, for the U.S. Military we are required to arrange transportation from a container depot to a military facility upon lease out and to pick up a container at a military facility and return it to a container depot when the lease period has ended. This requires us to arrange for movement of the empty containers by truck, rail and/or vessel. In January 2019, the USTranscom had issued a multi-vendor contract that included us as one of three vendors. The new contract covers a base year starting on March 1, 2019, with four option years running through February 29, 2024 and we have received the contact extension for the final year (or fourth option year) for the period March 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.

 

Resale of Containers

 

We sell containers to optimize their residual value in multiple markets, including locations with low lease-out demand. Our Resale Division sells off-hire containers from our fleet at the end, typically about 13 years, of their useful lives in marine service or when we believe it is financially attractive for us to do so, considering the location, sale price, cost of repair, and possible repositioning expenses. In addition, we buy new trading containers and used trading containers from shipping lines and other third parties that we then lease or resell. We generally sell containers to depots, domestic storage companies, freight forwarders (who often use the containers for one-way trips into less developed countries) and other purchasers of used containers. Our Resale Division has a team of container sales and operations specialists in five offices globally that manage the sale process for these used containers.

 

Re-leasing, Logistics and Depot Management

 

We believe that managing the period after termination of our containers’ first lease is one of the most important aspects of our business. The container shipping industry is characterized by large regional trade imbalances, with loaded containers generally flowing from export-oriented economies in Asia to North America and Western Europe. Because of these trade imbalances, container shipping lines have an incentive to return leased containers in North America and Western Europe to avoid the cost of shipping empty containers back to Asia. Successful management of the deployment of our containers after

35


 

they come off their first lease requires disciplined re-leasing capabilities, logistics management, depot management, careful cost control and profitable disposals of used containers.

Re-leasing

Since our leases allow our lessees to return their containers, we typically lease a container several times during its life. New containers can usually be leased with a limited sales and customer service infrastructure because initial leases for new containers typically cover large volumes of units and are fairly standardized transactions. Used containers, on the other hand, are typically leased in smaller transactions that are structured to accommodate pick-ups and returns in a variety of locations. Our utilization rates depend in part on our re-leasing capabilities. Factors that affect our ability to re-lease used containers include the size of our lessee base, ability to anticipate lessee needs, their presence in relevant geographic locations and the level of service we provide our lessees. We believe that our global presence and long-term relationships with our container lessees provide us an advantage in re-leasing our containers relative to many of our smaller competitors.

Logistics

Other methods of reducing off-lease risks include:

Limiting or prohibiting container returns to low-demand areas. In order to reduce our repositioning costs, our leases typically include a prohibition on returning containers to specific locations, limitations on the number of containers that may be returned to lower demand locations, drop-off charges for returning containers to lower demand locations or a combination of these provisions.
Taking advantage of a robust resale market when available. In order to optimize the investment return on a container, we have sold containers in our excess inventory and/or weak demand locations when an analysis indicates it is financially more attractive than attempting to re-lease or reposition the container.
Seeking one-way lease opportunities to move containers from lower demand locations to higher demand locations. One-way leases may include incentives, such as free days, credits and limited damage waivers. The cost of offering these incentives is generally less than the cost we would incur if we were to pay to reposition the containers. We also use one-way leases to move containers from locations where the market price for selling containers is low to locations with a higher market price, to improve the resale value of the containers.
Paying to reposition our containers to higher demand locations. At locations where our inventories remain high, despite the efforts described above, we will selectively choose to pay to reposition excess containers to locations with higher demand or higher resale prices.
Diversifying our customers. We have sought to diversify our customers and, correspondingly, the locations where containers are needed around the world.

 

Depot Management

 

As of December 31, 2022, we managed our container fleet through approximately 400 independent container depot facilities in approximately 200 locations. Depot facilities are generally responsible for repairing containers when they are returned by lessees and for storing the containers while they are off-hire. Our operations group is responsible for managing our depot relationships and periodically visiting the depot facilities to conduct quality assurance audits to control costs and ensure repairs meet industry standards. Our container repair standards and processes are generally managed in accordance with standards and procedures specified by the IICL. At the time that containers are returned by lessees, the depot arranges an inspection of the containers to assess the repairs required to return the containers to acceptable IICL condition. In general, lessees are responsible for the lessee damage portion of the repair costs, such as dents in the container and debris left in the container, and we are responsible for normal wear and tear.

 

We occasionally supplement our internal operations group with the use of independent inspection agents. We are in regular communication with our depot partners through the use of electronic data interchange (“EDI”) and/or e-mail. The electronic exchange of container activity information with each depot is conducted via the internet, and majority of our depots are able to report container activity and damage detail via EDI. Most of the depot agency agreements follow a standard form and generally provide that the depot will be liable for loss or damage of off-hire containers and, in the event of loss, will pay us the previously agreed loss value of the applicable containers. The agreements require the depots to maintain insurance against container loss or damage and we carry insurance to cover the risk when a depot’s insurance proves insufficient.

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Credit Controls

 

We monitor our customers’ performance and our lease exposures on an on-going basis. Our credit committee sets different maximum credit exposure limits depending on our relationship and previous experience with each customer lessee and container sales customer. Credit criteria may include, but are not limited to, trade route, country, social and political climate, assessments of financial performance including net worth and profitability, asset ownership, bank and trade credit references, credit bureau reports, operational history and financial strength. Our marketing and resale staff are also responsible for monitoring collections, which positively contributes to our strong collection and credit approval process through our staff’s close communication with our customers. Our credit management processes are aided by the long payment experience we have with most of our customer lessees and container sales customers, our broad network of long-standing relationships in the container shipping industry that provides current information about customer lessees’ and container sales customers’ market reputations and our focus on collections.

 

We historically have high recovery rates for containers in default situations and the re-marketability of our container fleet reduces our losses resulting from lessee defaults. From 2015 through 2022, we recovered on average, 85% of the containers that were the subject of defaulted contracts where we had completed the recovery process and had at least 1,000 CEU on lease to the customer. The growth in the container shipping industry also helps reduce the risk of customer defaults since the core assets of a poorly performing shipping line, its ships and containers, have historically been needed to meet the demand for world containerized trade. In addition, the law in several major port locations is highly favorable to creditors and many of our large customers call on ports that will allow us to arrest, or seize, the customers’ ships or fuel storage bunkers, or repossess our containers if the customer is in default under our container leases. We previously maintained insurance that covered certain costs typically incurred such as repairs and repositioning when containers are recovered after a default. However, after a major bankruptcy in the shipping industry in 2016, the availability of credit insurance protection became much more limited. While we previously maintained insurance to cover some defaults, premium increases, large deductible amounts and significant policy exclusions made the coverage uneconomic and we determined to lapse our coverage since 2021.

 

Marketing and Customer Service

 

Our global sales and customer service force is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with senior management staff at our shipping line customers, negotiating lease contracts and maintaining day-to-day coordination with operations staff. This close customer communication often assists us in negotiating lease contracts that satisfy both our financial return requirements and our customers’ operating needs. It also makes us more likely to be aware of our customers’ potential equipment shortages and makes our customers more likely to be aware of our available container inventories. We have marketing and customer service personnel in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe and in Africa. Our senior sales people have considerable industry experience and we believe that the quality of our customer relationships and the level of communication with our customers represent an important advantage for us.

 

Customers

 

Our customers are mainly international shipping lines, but we also lease containers to freight forwarding companies and the U.S. Military. Our scale, long presence in the business and reliability as a supplier of containers in locations where our customers need them has resulted in very strong relationships with our shipping line customers. Our top 20 customers, as measured by revenues, have on average been our customers for around 30 years, and include almost all of the world’s largest shipping lines, as measured by container vessel fleet size. Our top 20 and top 5 customers accounted for approximately 88.3% and 60.8%, respectively, of our total fleet’s 2022 lease rental income. Our three largest customers in 2022 accounted for $198 million or 24.4%, $95 million or 11.7% and $87 million or 10.8% of our total fleet’s 2022 lease rental income. A default by any of our major customers could have a material adverse impact on our business, results from operations and financial condition.

 

Proprietary Information Technology

 

We have developed proprietary IT systems that allow us to monitor container status and offer our customers a high level of service. Our systems include internet-based updates regarding container availability and booking status. Our systems record the status of and provide the accounting and billing for each of our containers individually by container number. We

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also have the ability to produce complete management reports for each portfolio of equipment we own and manage. This makes us a preferred candidate to quickly assume management of competitors’ container fleets. We also maintain proprietary technology in support of our military business.

 

In addition, our systems allow our business partners to conduct certain business with us through our website, www.textainer.com. These systems allow customers to check our container inventories, review design specifications, request bookings for container pick-ups, create redelivery bookings and review and approve repair bills. Our website also allows depots to download recent statements for self-billing activity and to check the status of containers.

 

Suppliers

 

We have long relationships with all of our major suppliers. We currently purchase all of our containers in the PRC. There are currently three major manufacturers, in addition to few smaller manufacturers, of dry freight standard and specialized containers. Our operations staff reviews the designs for our containers and periodically audits the production facilities of our suppliers. In addition, we use our Asian operations group and occasionally third-party inspectors to visit factories when our containers are being produced to provide an extra layer of quality control. Nevertheless, defects in our containers do sometimes occur. We work with the manufacturers to correct these defects, and our manufacturers have generally honored their warranty obligations in such cases.

 

Competition

 

We compete with at least five other major container leasing companies in addition to many smaller lessors, companies and financial institutions offering finance leases, and promoters of container ownership and leasing as a tax-efficient investment. It is common for our shipping line customers to utilize several leasing companies to meet their container needs.

 

Other lessors compete with us in many ways, including pricing, lease flexibility and supply reliability, as well as the location, availability, quality and individual characteristics of their containers and customer service. While we are forced to compete aggressively on price, we emphasize our supply reliability and high level of customer service to our customers. We invest heavily to ensure container availability in higher demand locations. We dedicate a large part of our organization to building customer relationships, maintaining close day-to-day coordination with customers’ operating staff and have developed powerful and user-friendly systems that allow our customers to transact business with us through the internet. We believe that our close customer relationships, experienced staff, reputation for market leadership, scale efficiencies and proprietary systems provide important competitive advantages.

 

Legal Proceedings

 

From time to time we are a party to litigation matters arising in connection with the normal course of our business. While we cannot predict the outcome of these matters, in the opinion of our management, any liability arising from these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business. Nevertheless, unexpected adverse future events, such as an unforeseen development in our existing proceedings, new claims brought against us or changes in our current insurance arrangements could result in liabilities that have a material adverse impact on our business.

 

Environmental Responsibility

 

We are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants to air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes and the cleanup of contaminated sites. While we maintain certain limited liability insurance coverage as well as require our lessees to provide us with indemnity against certain losses, the insurance coverage may not be sufficient to protect us against losses arising from environmental damage and/or systems or services we may be required to install.

Container shipping has been a key element in furthering world trade and related economic development. Containerization and the use of ever larger vessels have a significantly lower environmental footprint than other forms of shipping such as air freight. Additionally, at the end of container’s useful life at sea, they are not sent to landfills and have a myriad of additional uses, including as construction sheds, static storage and as shelter or housing. Containers used for these purposes have a positive environmental benefit by reducing the need to use new materials to create these storage or housing solutions.

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In addition to environmental regulations affecting container movement, shipping, movement and spillage, environmental regulations also impact container production and operation, including regulations on the use of chemical refrigerants (i.e., CFC’s and solvent-based paints) due to their ozone depleting and global warming effects, and regulations on the cutting and export of hardwood due to concerns regarding de-forestation and climate change. These environmental regulations may impact the future repair and operating costs for these containers, and we could be required to incur large retrofitting expenses for our refrigerated containers. To comply with new regulations, water borne paint systems have been developed and are being used by container manufacturers. The conversion to water borne paint may impact factory capacity, increase the cost of containers and require greater investment by us in container inspection and factory supervision.

We are an active member in industry groups such as the International Institute of Container Lessors that participate in industry projects such as the evaluation and development of more environmentally friendly container flooring that use bamboo rather than endangered hardwoods. We worked closely with container factories and others in the industry to complete the shift to container flooring that uses farmed wood, such as larch, birch, eucalyptuses and bamboo and we are also supporting industry efforts to implement a floor design which would reduce approximately 30% of the wood content (by substituting steel for wood). We support industry efforts to explore other flooring materials such as orientated strand board and the use of recycled materials. We have also worked with and supported our container suppliers’ transition to the use of waterborne paint that does not use harmful solvents in the drying process. This occurred about five years ago for dry freight containers and the transition recently occurred for refrigerated containers.

For further discussions, see Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors – Environmental liability and regulations may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.”

Regulation

 

We may be subject to regulations promulgated in various countries, including the U.S., seeking to protect the integrity of international commerce and prevent the use of containers for international terrorism or other illicit activities. As these regulations develop and change, we may incur increased compliance costs due to the acquisition of new, compliant containers and/or the adaptation of existing containers to meet any new requirements imposed by such regulations. For further discussions, see Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors – We may incur costs associated with cargo security regulations, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition”. We may also be affected by legal or regulatory responses to potential global climate change. Please see Item 3, “Key Information -- Risk Factors – Environmental liability and regulations may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.”.

 

Human Capital Management

 

We seek to attract, retain, and develop the best talent available in order to drive our continued success and achieve our business goals. Our management team has a solid history in the industry with extensive experience in sourcing, leasing, financing, selling and managing containers. As of December 31, 2022, our global workforce was comprised of approximately 162 employees located in 14 regional and area offices in 13 different countries. We are not a party to any collective bargaining agreements. Our employment policies and procedures are designed to provide a work environment that is responsive to and supportive of each employee’s objectives and we provide competitive compensation and benefits, and meaningful recognition programs to inspire outstanding team and individual performance. As an equal employment opportunity employer, we have protections in place for all protected groups through our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. We strive for an inclusive, safe, and respectful work environment that fosters employee growth and development.

 

 

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C.
Organizational Structure

 

Our current corporate structure as of February 14, 2023 is as follows:

img263200949_0.jpg 

 

D.
Property, Plant and Equipment

 

We maintain an office in Bermuda, where Textainer Group Holdings Limited is incorporated. We have 14 offices including our head office in Bermuda, our administrative office in San Francisco, California and offices in Cranford, New Jersey; New Malden, United Kingdom; Hamburg, Germany; Durban, South Africa; Yokohama, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sydney, Australia; Port Kelang, Malaysia; Hong Kong; and Shanghai, China.

 

We lease our office space in Bermuda, the U.S., United Kingdom and Singapore and have exclusive agents that secure office space for us in our other locations. The lease for our Bermuda office expires in August 2023, the lease for our San Francisco office expires in May 2027, the lease for our Cranford, New Jersey office expires in January 2025, the lease for our New Malden, United Kingdom office expires in December 2024 and our lease for our Singapore office expires in July 2024. In addition, we have non-exclusive agents who represent us in India, Indonesia, Republic of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. We believe that our current facilities are adequate to meet current requirements and that additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate our expected growth.

ITEM 4A. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

Not applicable.

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ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

The following Operating and Financial Review and Prospects should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by any forward-looking statements. See “Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements; Cautionary Language.” Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, particularly in Item 3, “Key Information-- Risk Factors.”

Dollar amounts in this section of this Annual Report on Form 20-F are expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated.

For the discussion of the financial condition and results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, refer to Item 5 “Operating and Financial Review and Prospects - Operating Results” and “- Liquidity and Capital Resources” in our Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, 2022, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference.

Overview

Operating since 1979, we are one of the world’s largest lessors of intermodal containers based on fleet size, with a total fleet of approximately 2.7 million containers, representing 4.4 million TEU. During 2022: (i) we invested in approximately $803 million of containers for our fleet, (ii) our utilization averaged 99.4% in 2022 compared to 99.8% in 2021, and (iii) we repurchased approximately 5.6 million shares of our common shares.

Our business comprises of three reportable segments for financial reporting purposes: Container Ownership, Container Management and Container Resale. Our total revenues primarily consist of leasing revenues derived from the leasing of our owned and managed containers and other non-leasing fees received for managing containers owned by third parties, equipment resale and military management. For further details of our business overview, see Item 4, “Information on the Company.

Market Overview

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on global economies. The decrease in global trade volumes and economic activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in global shipping and reduced container demand during the first half of 2020. However, cargo volumes and leasing demand rebounded since the start of the second half of 2020, and continued into 2022, as the pandemic stabilized, and demand for consumer goods and supply chain congestion have caused freight volumes to increase versus the first half of 2020. Global geopolitical stress from factors including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, as well as inflation due to higher energy prices and increased consumer demand and monetary policy during the pandemic, have led to fears of recession. Additionally, increased U.S. interest rates and the resulting stronger U.S. Dollar have contributed to global economic stress and recession concerns. This global economic stress has at least partially contributed to risk of a market recession as global demand for consumer goods and associated trade volumes stopped growing and have begun to experience some signs of decline.

 

We invested heavily in new containers during 2021 and the first half of 2022 in response to strong container demand, which has been subdued starting in the second half of 2022 following the prior historic container production in 2021. Container drop-offs, comprising of primarily sales-age containers and which had been subdued, started to increase in line with the reduced global shipping congestion. We currently believe these disruptions will ultimately normalize, but we have strongly benefited from the increased global containerized trade disruptions that have emerged since the second half of 2020 and throughout 2022 and containers purchased during this period were committed to very attractive leases with very long lease durations. While uncertainty remains on how the pandemic evolves, the implications from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and other geopolitical and economic stress, and the currently lower container demand environment, our balance sheet and liquidity are healthy and we have never had such a portfolio of secured long-term contracts. As we look out to the coming months, we see a continuation of this uncertainty with a likely reduction of our current high gain on container sales, but we remain well-positioned to respond to the current market environment. While container utilization may continue to gradually decrease, it should remain elevated compared to historic levels. For additional information regarding the risk and uncertainties

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that we could encounter as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and related global conditions, see Item 3, “Key Information - Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 20-F.

Key Factors Affecting Our Performance

We believe there are a number of key factors that have affected, and are likely to continue to affect, our operating performance. These key factors include the following, among others:

the demand for leased containers;
lease rates;
steel prices and the price and availability of other container components;
interest rates and availability of debt financing at acceptable terms;
our ability to lease our new containers shortly after we purchase them;
access to container production capacity;
prices of new and used containers and the impact of changing prices on containers held for sale and the residual value of our in-fleet owned containers;
remarketing risk;
the creditworthiness of our customers;
further consolidation among shipping lines and/or container lessors;
further consolidation of container manufacturers and/or decreased access to new containers; and
global and macroeconomic factors that affect trade generally, such as recessions, terrorist attacks, pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or the outbreak of war and hostilities, such as the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

For further details of these and other factors which may affect our business and results of operations, see Item 3, “Key Information-- Risk Factors.

Key Operating Metrics

 

The most important driver of our profitability is the extent to which our leasing revenues exceed our operating costs. The key drivers of our leasing revenues are fleet size, lease rates, and utilization. Our operating costs primarily consist of depreciation, direct costs related to the operations of our owned and managed fleet, and interest expense. Our profitability is also driven by the gains or losses we realize on the sale of our containers.

 

Fleet Size. Our total fleet consists of containers that we own, and containers owned by other container investors that we manage. We purchased approximately $803 million and $2.0 billion during 2022 and 2021, respectively, of containers for our fleet. The size of our fleet increased in 2021 as we heavily invested in new containers in response to strong container demand, virtually all of which are currently on lease with tenors in excess of 12 years. The table below summarizes the composition of our total fleet, in TEU and CEU, by type of container as of December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020. TEU and CEU are standard industry measures of container size and relative value and are used to measure the quantity of containers that make up our revenue earning assets:

 

 

 

Total Fleet in TEU

 

 

Total Fleet in CEU

 

 

 

2022

 

2021

 

2020

 

 

2022

 

2021

 

2020

 

Standard dry freight

 

 

4,168,754

 

 

4,060,296

 

 

3,522,809

 

 

 

3,682,633

 

 

3,593,693

 

 

3,139,487

 

Refrigerated

 

 

202,081

 

 

203,413

 

 

191,593

 

 

 

812,276

 

 

818,224

 

 

772,458

 

Other specialized

 

 

54,465

 

 

58,658

 

 

59,651

 

 

 

85,611

 

 

91,587

 

 

93,015

 

Total fleet

 

 

4,425,300

 

 

4,322,367

 

 

3,774,053

 

 

 

4,580,520

 

 

4,503,504

 

 

4,004,960

 

 

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Lease Revenue. We generate lease rental income by leasing our owned container fleet and managed container fleet to container shipping lines and other customers. Lease rental income on operating lease contracts comprises daily per diem rental charges due under the lease agreements and on finance lease contracts represents interest income earned under finance lease contracts, together with payments for other charges set forth in the leases, such as handling fees, drop-off charges and pick-up charges and credits (together “geography revenue”) and charges for a DPP. For further details of our types of leases, see Item 4, “Information of the Company—Business Overview.

 

Lease rental income is affected by per diem rates. The per diem rate for a lease is set at the time we enter into a lease agreement. Our long-term per diem rate for new containers has historically been strongly influenced by new container pricing (which in turn is heavily influenced by the cost of container manufacturing inputs such as steel, paint, wood, labor and other components), interest rates, the balance of supply and demand for containers at a particular time and location, our estimate of the residual value of the container at the end of its useful life in marine service, type of the container being leased, container purchasing activities by container shipping lines and competitors, and efficiencies in container utilization by container shipping lines. Average per diem rates for containers in our owned fleet and in the portfolios of containers comprising our managed fleet change slowly in response to changes in new container prices because existing lease agreements can only be re-priced upon expiration of the lease. Container prices have moderated in 2022 from the record levels that prevailed in 2021. Average lease rates of our containers on operating leases increased by 3.2% in 2022 compared to 2021, primarily reflecting the favorable current market environment and impact of higher new container prices. Our finance lease income increased during 2022 compared to 2021, primarily due to growth of our fleet on finance leases by approximately 4.4% (as a percentage of our total fleet in TEU on hire during the period) which was driven by the strong demand of containers.

 

Utilization. Utilization is a key performance indicator that demonstrates how much of our equipment is on lease at a point in time or over a period of time. We measure utilization on the basis of CEU on lease, dividing the actual number of CEU days on-hire by actual CEU days available for lease. We calculate containers available for lease by excluding containers that have been manufactured for us but have not yet been delivered to a lessee and containers designated as held for sale units. Our utilization is primarily a function of our current lease structure, overall level of container demand, the location of our available containers and prevailing lease terms by location. The location of available containers is critical because containers available in high-demand locations are more readily leased and are typically leased on more favorable terms than containers available in low-demand locations.

 

Our average utilization during 2022 and 2021 were higher compared to historic levels due to trade volumes and global supply-chain disruptions that have continued to drive container demand. The following table summarizes our average total fleet utilization (CEU basis) for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020:

 

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