Summer is coming to an end this year, and traditionally, what should have been a peak season for trans-Pacific routes also means that container ship deals are starting to flourish. However, there is a series of conflicting signals and various interpretations in the market right now, but freight rates are starting to drop "significantly" and demand softening is a fact of consensus.
Undoubtedly, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties have exacerbated the current sluggish sentiment in the container chartering market. As a direct participant in the market, liner companies have more personal experience. However, in the face of the current sharp drop in freight rates, softening demand and an uncertain future, major large liner companies have been actively seeking to extend the charter of large container ships recently, and as of now, at least a dozen 10,000TEU container ships have been booked ahead of schedule. Complete lease renewal.
Alphaliner said the container charter market was slowly coming out of the slump of the past few weeks. In particular, container transactions of 9,500-14,000 TEU were particularly active, with at least 19 vessels transacted.
According to statistics, the recent transactions of large ships are mainly dominated by members of THE Alliance. Hapag-Lloyd has renewed the charter of five 10,100TEU containerships from Seaspan at daily rates for a 78-month extension from 2024. Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd has time-chartered six 14,000TEU containerships from SFL for a five-year lease period, starting after the expiry of the lease with current charterer Evergreen Marine from 2023 to 2024.
Japan Ocean Network (ONE)) renewed the lease of "Seaspan Adonis" (built in 2010, 9500TEU) for three years at a daily rent of US$67,500, and the lease period will start from next year.
Yang Ming Shipping, which is part of the THE alliance with Hapag-Lloyd and ONE, announced the exercise of the option to extend the 14,000TEU container charter period of five Cespans for two years, with a daily rent of about US$28,355 to US$36,695 per vessel.
Alphaliner said there was also a revival in medium and small containership deals, which showed that charter rates for vessels under 5,000 TEU were starting to drop, although charters were of course much shorter, with charterers now generally leaning towards 12-month leases. While some shipowners are still occasionally able to secure 24-month or longer charters for certain vessels, this is usually due to other reasons such as vessel size or vessel location.
Recently, the 2700TEU container ship "Posen" controlled by F.Laeisz was leased to Jinjiang Shipping for two years at a daily rate of US$58,500. These vessels are being chartered for ever shorter periods, while rates have dropped by an average of 10% over the past few weeks and are continuing to decline.
DKT Allseas recently leased the 1,700TEU container "A Daisen" for one year at a daily rent of US$50,000. The daily rate for a 12-month charter has also fallen from $54,000 a month ago, due to an increase in the number of vessels of this type available for charter.
However, in the small feeder segment of less than 1000TEU, the Hans-Peter Wegene-owned 'Nova' was recently subletted to ONE for six months at an impressive $31,000 per day.
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