Delphis has secured a healthy premium on the fixture three ice-class containerships, despite the massive influx of capacity in the Baltic trades, says managing director Maxime Van Eecke.
The onset of the ice-class season has enabled the Belgian owner to charter the 1,924-teu sisters Delphis Bothnia (built 2016), Delphis Bothnia and Delphis Riga (both built 2017) for around $2,000 more than non-ice class tonnage.
The Kielmax vessels, which hold ice-class 1A notation are optimised for transit through the Kiel Canal, have been taken on extension by COSCO Shipping for six months at a reported rate of $14,250 per day.
Delphis, the container division of Compagnie Maritime Belge ( CMB), obtained a marginally higher rate with the same charterer earlier in the year. But the new fixture is a “very good rate” in a trade which is feeling the effects of overcapacity due to the arrival of bigger newbuildings, says Van Eecke
Charter rates in the Baltic trades have been under pressure in recent months, during which period it has started to absorb the influx of some of the largest vessels delivered to Maersk Line and deployed in the Baltic trades.
The fifth in the series of seven 3,600-teu vessels, the Vuoksi Maersk (built 2018), was delivered in September. The last two in the series are scheduled for delivery before the end of the year.
The arrival of the Maersk Line newbuildings is understood to have resulted in the Danish carrier redelivering a number of vessels in the 1,400-teu to 1,700-teu size, with consequent drop in rates in the niche ice-class trades.
But the Delphis vessels, which are fuel-efficient and have 494 reefer plugs and a wide 30.5 metre beam, have been able to weather the market better than other designs.
By comparison, rates for modern, non-ice class 1,700-teu designs are earning around $12,000 per day.
The 1,809-teu Kestrel (built 2013) fixed Evergreen for six months at $12,000 per day, while the 1,756-teu Nordlily (built 2016) taken by Heung-A Shipping four to six months at $12,300 per day.
Similarly, the 1,774-teu Sabre Trader (built 2018), the first in a series of nine newbuildings scheduled for delivery to Lomar Shipping, is reported taken by Chinese operator Rizhao Haitong Ferry for four to six months at $12,000 per day.
