This paper focuses on the problem of container management on a liner shipping network considering the short term leasing option. It also involves the option of demand rejection in case of unprofitable back hauls to Asia or inadequate vessel capacity. The problem is formulated as a multi-commodity dynamic network flow model that seeks to maximize the total profit obtained from container management. A set of scenarios is solved using a standard solver (CPLEX 12.2). It enables to investigate the short term leasing option as an alternative to the empty container repositioning and determines its impact on the usage of own container inventories. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the influence of different parameters on container management decisions.