Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping has produced another landmark deal in the red-hot car carrier segment, chartering out a pure car/truck carrier (PCTC) for a year at more than $100,000 per day.

Shipping sources said the Idan Ofer-controlled company is pocketing more than $36.5m by extending the charter of the Imabari Shipbuilding-constructed, 6,178-ceu Lake Geneva (built 2015) to Japan’s Nissan Motor Car Carrier (NMCC).

Eastern Pacific officials declined to comment when contacted. NMCC was not available for comment.

The charter contract is said to start at end of next month.

“This is the historical level for a one-year charter contract for a PCTC,” one market expert said. “It’s not only about the high charter rate but also the duration of the fixture. There were also other car-carrier operators that were vying for Lake Geneva.”

In July, Eastern Pacific was reported to have fixed the scrubber-fitted Lake Geneva to NMCC for 90 days at more than $100,000 per day. The spot rate was 2.5 times more than the vessel’s previous six-month contract with Hyundai Glovis at $40,000 per day.

Then, brokers thought it was only spot shipments that could command such a strong rate amid the short supply of car carriers.

They said the high rate “needs to be supported by freight volume and it shows automakers are willing to pay for the expensive rates to get their cargoes delivered”.

Clarksons’ index puts the current one-year charter rate for a 6,500-ceu PCTC at $62,500 per day in June. According to the broker, the charter rate for ships of the same capacity was $10,000 per day in mid-2020.

The niche car carrier sector is benefiting from similar dynamics as container shipping — port congestion and a rebound in global trade sales.

The car carrier sector was depressed for several years and was one of the shipping segments hardest hit by the pandemic. But it rebounded strongly from the middle of last year, thanks to a combination of pent-up demand, economic stimulus measures, reopening economies and low fleet growth.

“Lake Geneva was in lay-up for two to three years but is now making big earnings,” the market expert said.

Several analysts forecast a possible shortage of car carrier tonnage after years of underinvestment in the sector and on the back of an increase in global demand for electric vehicles.

There are 67 PCTCs on order, amounting to 1.4m dwt and representing 11.2% of the trading fleet.

Eastern Pacific is one of the companies that has invested in new PCTCs. It has a dozen LNG dual-fuel, 7,000-ceu newbuildings under construction in China.