Shipping companies, criticized for being slow to modernize, are being targeted by information technology (IT) companies seeking a slice of a container management business estimated to be worth up to $14 billion. IT companies say they see the Internet as a way for shipping companies to cut the annual cost of handling containers. The problem mainly arises when companies ship cargo from point A to point B, only to find they have no return cargo. They either have to pay storage costs or ship them back empty. Greybox Logistics Services territory manager, Far East and North Pacific, Dana Lee, said that in 1994, 24.6 million TEU were handled empty in 1994 - about 19.5 percent of the total handled by ports that year.