The charter market remains very active with rates still holding very firm on very strong demand across all size segments. Last week saw notable gains in the Bangkokmax segment where demand has picked up especially for intra-Asia deployment. In the past week, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd dominated the fixtures list as they continue to fill the open vessel slots in their new Gemini network. Maersk’s recent capacity additions have seen it breach its own self-imposed fleet cap of 4.3m teu that it has mai
Charter rates have resumed their tentative climb after the holidays in the Far East, with a shortage of prompt tonnage keeping rates at elevated levels across all size segments. Improved rates were recorded in the feeder sizes where most of the chartering activity have been focused especially in the Atlantic. There are limited deals in the larger sizes, with one notable fixture last week for the 4,957 teu X-PRESS BARDSEY on a short 2-3m charter to CMA CGM at a relatively strong rate of $63,000 t
Charter rates are still holding up with limited open tonnage available and several carriers still not fully covered for their immediate vessel requirements. Chartering activity slowed down last week due to the Lunar New Year holidays across most of Far East Asia, although European carriers have remained active with Maersk in particular still seeking to cover their requirements for the next 6 months. Maersk has fixed the 8,030 teu MANZANILLO BRIDGE on a 4 month charter at a hefty $100,000 per da
Fixture activity has remained brisk with both extensions and new charters still fuelling the charter market rally with rates still strengthening apart from the 1,100 teu and smaller segments where there is sufficient availability to meet existing demand. For larger sizes, including the 1,700 teu segment, vessel availability remains extremely tight in the short term and charter rates will remain firm until this situation changes. With all of the main carriers still retaining the Cape routing in
Charter market activity has been muted in the last 2 weeks due to the Christmas and New Year holidays with attention mostly focused on the smaller sizes. Rates for both the 1,100 teu and 1,700 teu classes continue to firm on healthy demand across all markets. Above 2,700 teu, there are very few open candidates apart from takers willing to accept forward fixtures that now extend to the 2nd half of the year. COSCO has been most active in the past week with charter renewals and new fixtures that we
2024 has been turned out to be a highly profitable year for charter owners with the Linerlytica charter rate index up 160% year over year at the end of December. The 4,200 teu panamax segment registered the largest gains over the last 12 months, with a YoY gain of 211%. Although demand has been very strong for all ship sizes of over 4,000 teu, there were limited numbers of open ships in the larger segments above 5,000 teu that were available to take advantage of the increased demand. The longer
The containership charter market slowed in the past week both in terms of new fixtures and vessel deliveries with the holiday season approaching. Demand remains high relative to the tonnage available for charter, keeping both charter rates and resale prices at very high levels. Most of the activity is focused on the 1,700 teu and 2,700 teu sizes where rates are still registering marginal gains while the other segments is flat on the lack of new fixture benchmarks. Second hand transactions remai
Charter activity is slowing down as the end of 2024 approaches with no signs of charter rates abating after their strong run up over the past 12 months. Activity is focused entirely on the smaller sizes of below 5,000 teu with no fresh deals in the over-5,000 teu segment due to the acute shortage of open tonnage with increasing numbers of forward fixtures done for 2nd half 2025 deliveries. Activity in the smaller sizes remain brisk, with the 1,700 teu/2,700 teu/4,200 teu segments still registe
The containership charter rates remain firm with limited availability in all segments. Gemini Cooperation partners Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd are still scrambling to assemble sufficient ships for the launch of their new joint services starting in February 2025 with more than 20 open vessel slots still to be filled. The published schedules for February shows a large number of blanked sailings that will coincide with the port Chinese New Year slack period, but also reflects the partners’ tonnage short
Carriers appetite for new tonnage continues to push charter rates higher. Apart from raiding the depleted charter market for additional tonnage, carriers have returned to the newbuilding market in droves with Maersk confirming a 20 ship order on top of additional charter deals as it tries to narrow the self-created gap with MSC. The orderbook ratio has rebounded to 27% from 20% in June on the back of more than 3.8m teu of new capacity that has been ordered in the last 6 months alone. The contai