Container charter market on a continuous bullish course

The container charter market remains on an upbeat course, with a continued high demand for tonnage across the board and a limited supply keeping charter rates at healthy levels.

Unsurprisingly, the number of fixtures in the larger sizes above 4,000 teu has been very low in the past couple of weeks due to an ongoing shortage of prompt ships.

Given the supply squeeze, Alphaliner anticipates a continued subdued volume of fixing in these sizes in the coming weeks, with forward fixing the only way for shipping lines to secure the ships they need.

Below 4,000 teu, the higher tonnage liquidity has given rise to more transactions, with rates evolving at continued firm(ing) levels, especially in the 2,500, 1,800 and 1,000 teu sizes. Periods, however, tend to be a little shorter, particularly in the 1,500-1,800 teu segment, but that could be a temporary blip only.

Forward fixing remains also popular in the smaller sizes, with reports that three vessels of 3,400 teu have been extended from 2027 for multi-year employments.

Going forward, the market is facing continued uncertainties. Regarding the expected wide-scale return of container shipping to Suez, liner operators are blowing hot and cold, with Maersk announcing the rerouting of its India-Middle East-US ‘MECL’ service through the Canal on a regular basis.

By contrast, cmacgm which was the first major carrier to test the Canal and Red Sea waters with large ships in the last couple of months, has now said it would continue routing some of its major Asia-Europe services via the Cape of Good Hope.

Clearly, carriers remain cautious about the geopolitical instability in the Middle East and their prudence also serves the market as it delays any massive release of tonnage that a wide scale re-routing to Suez will trigger.

Source: Alphaliner