A resurgence of charter market activity by Danish liner giant AP Moller-Maersk is doing little to stem the decline in charter rates.
The Copenhagen-based company has been a sleeping giant of the container ship charter market for most of the year.
But the company has reappeared to fix or extend more than a dozen vessels in the past few weeks.
This activity positions Maersk as one of the more active charterers of container ships, encompassing feeders to post-panamax boxships.
Maersk has taken advantage of lower rates in the traditional panamax segment to charter the 4,360-teu Kassiakos (built 2009) from Greek owner Dioryx Maritime.
The vessel has been taken for three to nine months at $16,500 per day.
Just three months ago, the benchmark for panamaxes was about $20,000 per day for a year.
But tonnage providers are being asked to accept lower rates and more flexible periods, said brokers.
The pressure on the market is added to by an increasing number of relets from rival liner operators and alliances.
Maersk has fixed vessels including the 13,800-teu Thalassa Elpida (built 2014) for a short three-month fixture after it was sublet from Taiwanese operator Evergreen Marine.
Rates are undisclosed, although the market for larger vessels has proven more resilient than for smaller ones.
So Maersk is forking out slightly more than $19,500 per day to charter the 5,071-teu wide-beam Seadream (built 2014) for five to eight months from Greek owner Thenamaris.
Drastic adjustment
Maersk’s comeback has made it the second most active charterer in the third quarter of the year, according to a quarterly review by shipbroker Braemar.
The liner company increased its fixing activity by more than 50% compared with what it achieved during the first six months of 2023.
Despite the increased engagement of the world’s second-largest liner operator in the market, the charter market remains muted with average rates down to levels last seen three years ago.
Braemar’s BOXi container charter index is down to a 52-week low of 99.76 from a high over the period of 170.
The BOXi index is still significantly higher than its pre-pandemic level of 72.28 points in May 2020.
That suggests significant room for a further correction in the charter market, said Braemar.
Meanwhile, the number of container ships on the spot market almost doubled by the end of September to its highest level since October 2020, it said.
Pressure on the market has seen idle capacity rise to nearly 5% of the container shipping fleet, up from about 3% at the end of September, according to Alphaliner.
Some 303 ships of 1.29m teu were inactive at the end of October.
About 82% of all fixing activity in the third quarter occurred in the tonnage size below 3,000 teu, Braemar added.
Maersk has also been an active charterer of cut-price fixtures in this segment.
It has fixed the 1,118-teu Atlantic Express (built 2007) for three to six months at $11,500 per day.
The rate is comparatively strong but remains $800 less than what Maersk paid for the same vessel in July.
Rates for sub-panamax boxships are also down. Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd fixed the 2,758-teu Cape Male (built 2009) for a flexible six-month charter.
The vessel has been fixed at $12,750 per day, about $2,000 lower than last done, said brokers.
Greeks buy and sell
The downward pressure on markets has led to several sale-and-purchase transactions.
Norway-based Thor Dahl Management is down to a single container ship after the sale of the 2,826-teu Thorstar (built 2003).
The vessel is reported sold in the region of $13m to interests linked to Aristides Pittas-led Euroseas.
The vessel has been renamed the Angeliki and is chartered to intra-Asia operator Gold Star Line until the end of 2024 at $34,500 per day.
The sale leaves Thor Dahl with one remaining container ship, the 2,169-teu Thorswind (built 1999), on charter to Middle East operator Tehama Shipping Services.
Brokers also report that Australia-based Neptune Pacific Line has acquired the 1,100-teu Contship Rex (built 2015) and Contship Dax (built 2016).
Greece’s Contship acquired the vessels last year as part of a four-strong en-bloc deal from UK-based Lomar Shipping.
