Container Owners: A Dividend Play On Global Trade

When most investors look for ways to play growing global trade, they often look towards bulk shippers such as DryShips

or train networks such as CSX

as portfolio plays. However, there may be another way to participate in the growth and add some nice dividends to a portfolio. Intermodal freight transport involves the shipping of freight in an intermodal container, using multiple modes of transportation (rail, ship, and truck), without any handling of the goods themselves when changing transportation methods. While the transporters are known to investors, they do have the ability to invest in the containers themselves. TAL International Group

operates in 37 different countries and owns 720,000 containers. The company rents out these containers to end users and collects a fee. Shares of the company currently yield 5%. Textainer Group

is the world’s largest intermodal container operator based on asset size. The company currently owns and operates 1.5 million various containers. Shares of Textainer yield 4%.