The boxship charter market is heading for an unusually busy year end, with healthy demand buoying fixtures for vessels of between 1,100 teu and 4,250 teu and rates now 30% higher than they were at this time last year.

Activity is busiest for ships of 1,700-teu capacity. Twelve-month charters have risen to about $8,610 per day, up nearly $2,000 per day, according to New ConTex.

Modern designs are attracting a healthy premium. This is reflected by two generations of a 1,700-teu design marketed by China's Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard.

German owner Leonhardt & Blumberg (L&B), which is among the largest tonnage providers to the boxship charter market, has fixed out four Wenchong 1700-design vessels.

Two older Wenchong designs, the 1,700-teu Hansa Homburg (built 2009) and Hansa Limburg (built 2006), have been taken for three to six months by Hapag-Lloyd at about $8,000 per day.

Deemed a relatively strong rate, it is about 30% higher than the benchmark design might have obtained a year ago. Similar ships are understood to be under negotiation at about $9,000 per day.

Paling in comparison

But these rates pale in comparison with two modern Wenchong designs in the L&B fleet: the 1,714-teu newbuilding Olympia (built 2017) and a sistership, the MCC Shanghai (ex-Oceana, built 2013).

These are earning a significant premium on charters of about five to 10 months with MCC Transport.

The Olympia is fixed for five to 10 months at $9,900 per day and will serve on routes between North East and South East Asia, while the MCC Shanghai is understood to be fixed on similar terms with the same charterer.

Owners are taking heart from the market moving in what they consider to be the right direction.

L&B managing director Christian Rychly said: “Demand has surprised many players in the industry this year. And supply is fairly limited. If you look at the ships available between 1,000 teu and 2,000 teu, there are a few newbuildings but there is no growth in the overall fleet.

“You have a point where charter rates go up — and that is what we are seeing.”

According to Alphaliner, 71 ships of the early Wenchong 1700 design were built between 2000 and 2014, compared with 20 of the new design, including four to be delivered.

Both Wenchong designs offer capacity for about 1,275 20-foot containers that are loaded at 14 tonnes each, but the newer design has specifications that warrant the higher rate for trading in Asia.

At 172 metres in length overall, the Wenchong MK II is three metres shorter than the earlier vessels and avoids the extra fees imposed on longer ships trading to Bangkok.

It also holds 362 reefer plugs compared with 300 in the older design, and is more energy efficient, burning 44 tons of fuel at 19 knots compared with 64 tons on the older design.

Alphaliner argues that the Wenchong II design “will have a greater earning potential in the future once the charter market recovers on a wider scale”.

But it adds that the fortunes of the older designs should continue to improve due “to the overall dynamism of demand in the 1,500-teu to 1,900-teu segment, the tight supply of tonnage and a continued low orderbook for charter market vessels of this size”.

That optimism is shared by other European brokers who say the number of containerships coming open for charter in November is at its lowest level for three years.