Ships

Charter rates for ships below 5,000 teu have tumbled with an increasing pool of redelivered ships and relets while charter periods have also shortened with carriers unwilling to commit to longer periods in a slowing market. Rates for ships above 5,000 teu have remained relatively resilient but this is only due to the limited number of candidates available in the market. Zim continues to shed its surplus tonnage, with the 4,252 teu VOLANS redelivered 10 months early and retaken by Hapag-Lloyd at

Charter rates continued to slide for the smaller sizes, with prompt tonnage readily available in the 1,100 and 1,800 teu segments with a number of newbuildings due in the next 3 months still uncommitted, while sublet candidates have increased. Zim in particular has been actively reducing its charter commitments, through both sublets and charter terminations. 2 ships have already left in July, with several more to be redelivered in the coming month. Activity in the larger sizes is still limited,

Evergreen's order for 16 new methanol powered containerships of 16,000 teu at Samsung H.I. marks the single largest containership order contract ever made. The order was finalised on 14 July 2023 and is worth $3.1 Bn (KRW 3.96 Tn) in total, with each unit priced at $193.9m. The ships are scheduled for delivery in 2026 and 2027. A separate order for 8 similar units has been placed at Nihon Shipyard according to Evergreen's announcement made on 11 July 2023.

Charters rates for smaller feeders below 3,000 teu continues to be under the most pressure with rates noticeably declining over the last 2 weeks as ready tonnage continues to build up in Asia. There has been several reports of deals failing on subjects across all sizes, with demand waning as freight markets continued to weaken. MSC has taken over its 349th resale unit since 2020 with the 1,740 teu X-PRESS COTOPAXI (renamed MSC PAXI II) joining the fleet. Chinese and Russian buyers remain activ

Charter rates are easing across all sizes after their unexpected rally in the 1st half of the year, with activity slowing down noticeably in recent weeks due to weaker market demand, as well as the onset of the summer holidays. There were a number of charter extensions taking effect in July, featuring ships from Danaos, GSL and Seaspan in deals concluded several months earlier. Hapag-Lloyd exercised their extension options on the 10,114 teu EXPRESS ROME and EXPRESS ATHENS at $30,000 per day fo

Cooling demand and an increase in relet candidates have seen charter rates coming under fresh pressure. Rates are faltering across all size segments as the weakness in the feeder sizes is spreading to the panamax and larger sizes. Zim has sought the early termination of several sub-panamax and panamax ships with remaining charters of 2-3 years that has already started to put pressure on charter rates as these ships return to the charter market. Resale transactions are also cooling down althoug

Charter rates are starting to falter with carriers forced to reconsider their peak season deployment plans especially on the transpacific where demand has remained very weak while the risk of an escalation in port congestion has been substantially lowered following the ILWU agreement reached last week. The sharp decline in transpacific rates has already forced all the new carriers apart from Swire/UWL out from the trade, with Pasha and CU Lines the latest micro-carriers to withdraw. The increas

The number of containerships currently undergoing scrubber and LNG retrofits stand at 15 units for 122,150 teu with 6 units below 5,100 teu class. The retrofit fleet is currently at the lowest level since March 2022 and continue to fall with the bulk of the retrofit candidates already completed. Pasha’s HORIZON RELIANCE (to be renamed GEORGE II) is nearing completion of its LNG engine retrofit in China. The 43 year old US flagged ship has been docked since August 2022.

Charter rates continue to diverge, remaining firm for the larger ships in the Panamax and larger segments while softening in the smaller sizes of below 3,000 teu. Demand in the larger sizes have been surprisingly resilient despite the ongoing weakness in the freight markets. All prompt vessels of 5,000 teu and above have been snatched up, with the tight supply to persist until the end of the year. But the supply-demand balance for smaller ships have started to weaken, with a significant number

Imoto Lines has received the first of 3 ships of 1,096 teu for the domestic Japanese trade with the KISO that was delivered on 10 May 2023 by Kyokuyo shipyard, although the first port call was made on 2 June 2023 at Kobe. The ship is deployed on the Yokohama, Tomakomai, Sendai, Yokohama route for its maiden service. Imoto will introduce 2 more sisterships to its domestic feeder routes by the end of this year. These ships are the largest ships in the Imoto, surpassing the 670 teu units that are