Boxship charter rates are making a swift recovery as an easing of lockdowns around the world has enabled liner services to resume.

The pickup has been led by larger containerships, where the supply of vessels has all but dried up.

Improving demand for smaller post-panamax and traditional panamaxes means rates are beginning to lift.

The recovery is fuelled by a fixing spree for 8,500-teu ships, which has sucked up most of the available larger charter vessels and forced lines to look for smaller alternatives.

Therefore, rates for vessels of 3,500 teu to 7,000 teu are rising significantly.

Notable fixtures include the 6,882-teu Cape Chronos (built 2015) taken by German liner operator Hapag-Lloyd.

Greek owner Cape Shipping is understood to have fixed out the vessel for three to eight months at $19,800 per day.

A week before, the 6,612-teu sistership Swansea (built 2014) is said to have commanded $16,000 per day for a two to four-month charter with Cosco Shipping Lines.

Brokers report a dearth of large vessels available for charter in August.

"Rates are rising and periods are getting longer even though charterers are trying to stay short," shipbroker Harper Petersen said.

Surprise

The swift pace of recovery comes as a welcome surprise for tonnage providers.

It is reflected by a 3.3% rise in the Howe Robinson Container Index to 548 points, which is the highest percentage increase of the index in more than two years.

The rising rates are attributable to liner operators reinstating services in parts of the world where a lockdown has been lifted.

Demand has been spurred by carriers relaxing a capacity management programme or launching new services.

Israeli carrier Zim launched a new transpacific service last month using five chartered vessels of 4,250 teu, while French operator CMA CGM is instating a new Asia-West Africa service this month that will deploy 11 classic panamaxes.

This has helped lift the market for traditional panamax boxships. Rates for these ships are threatening to breach $10,000 per day for the first time in several weeks.

More modern tonnage is also benefiting with wide-beam designs, such as the 4,957-teu Wiking (built 2016) taken for six to nine months by CMA CGM at $13,000 per day.

Filter down

A dwindling supply of 4,000-teu to 5,000-teu vessels is forcing charterers to look for alternatives in the 3,500-teu sector, according to Clarksons.

The increase in activity for ships of over 3,500 teu has pushed down the number of inactive vessels to below 2m teu for the first time in four months, according to Alphaliner.

The inactive fleet totals 375 ships or about 1.85m teu as of 6 July, or about 7.9% of the total containership fleet, which is nearly 471,000 teu down compared with the end of June, and the first time below 2m teu since mid-February.

This has helped lift the New Contex index, which has recorded consecutive rises for four straight weeks.

While the mood has become more optimistic, some caution was expressedthat the containership market is not out of the woods yet.

Shipbrokers report charter rates for containerships remain below the pre-virus levels.

Moreover, there is little sign of an improvement for smaller feedersize vessels.

For ships below 3,500 teu, the market remains oversupplied and rates remain at historically low levels.