Dioryx Maritime, one of the oldest Greek container ship players, is on the verge of setting an astonishing new price benchmark for a traditional panamax boxship.
The company is selling the 4,250-teu Ionikos (built 2009) to an Asian liner operator for around $95m, according to sale-and-purchase sources.
That is around $32m — or 33% — higher than the price fetched for similar container vessels sold just three months ago.
The astronomical jump in price is hard to justify by reference to the soaring charter market, even if the vessel is with prompt delivery, brokers said.
Instead, it reflects a desperate grab by second and third-tier liner operators to obtain vessels in a market where owners are choosy about whom they accept as charterers.
As charters have become more expensive and fixtures have lengthened from months to years, smaller carriers find it difficult to obtain vessels due to perceived counterparty risk.
So paying “obscene” prices to acquire vessels may be the only way for smaller carriers to plug a gap in their liner services, said brokers.
There is no doubting the boldness of the asking price for the Ionikos.
The last comparative sales were the 4,250-teu Zim Pacific and Zim Atlantic (both built 2009), which were among five vessels sold to Israeli liner operator Zim in October for around $63m each.
Back then, these were record prices that were justified by the cost of taking the vessels for periods in the charter market.
It would likely cost operators around $55,000 per day for a three-year charter of the panamax boxships, or around $60m.
But the new asking prices are not off-putting with around five bidders said to have offered in for the Ionikos.
And talk of the deal has fanned the flames of an already heated market.
The deal remains unconfirmed and one source suggested that the ship had been withdrawn from sale, with much of the discussion on delivery dates of the vessel.
He added that the owner was seeking to fix the vessel for two to three months at $250,000 per day.
“It’s indecent, it’s insane,” he said.
Company owner Dimitris Papadimitriou was not available for comment. Dioryx executives did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of the deal.
An indecent proposal
Few of those involved in the container charter and S&P markets expect any great shift in the direction of the market any time soon.
“The current market dynamic is expected to last well into 2022 and possibly into the full year,” Braemar ACM Shipbroking said in a recent commentary.
With the market for larger boxships “sold out”, most of the upward momentum in the market has shifted to smaller vessels.
That has already led some owners to withdraw ships for sale in expectation of making more money in the weeks to come.
“It’s causing a general air of panic amongst the operators that if they don’t do something today on chartering and S&P that it’s going to be more expensive tomorrow,” said a container shipping source.
“At the same time, you’ve got sellers saying why sell today when in two week’s time it’s definitely going to be higher.”
One boxship owner said he expected to see a further spike in charter rates and asset prices after the Chinese New Year.
He said the market has been propelled with suppliers re-entering the charter market to take vessels at record prices.
That includes The Pasha Group of the US, which this week took a string of vessels for a transpacific service backed by US retailer Costco.
Talk of the price for the Ionikos has also accelerated interest among owners in taking panamax boxships for forward positions.
It is increasingly likely that lines will look towards fixing positions for 2023 and 2024, said one broker.
The price being asked for container vessels also reflects the speed with which the market continues to move, making every deal better than last done.
“You have to look at the deal on the day it is done,” said one container source. “If you start looking at what gets done subsequently after selling a vessel, you’ll beat yourself up.”
Boxship S&P activity reached record levels in 2021, according to figures from Clarksons Research.
