Greece has taken over from Germany as the country with the largest charter owned boxship fleet.
Further changes are expected as Canada, Greece, the UK, China and Japanese boxship owners have larger charter owner orderbooks than German owners, according to Clarksons Research.
The shift comes with the charter owned container ship fleet shrinking to around 40% of total boxship capacity — down from nearly half of the total capacity a decade ago.
Over that period, the share of the charter fleet held by German owners has shrunk to 17%, or 1.9m teu.
That is massively down from nearly 70% before the financial crisis when the German KG (limited partnership) system spurred investment in container ships.
The rise of Greek shipowners followed sustained growth in the 2010s led by Costamare and Danaos, which doubled their fleets between 2010 and 2017.
The charter market fleet has declined from 47% of the total fleet to 40% today, driven by newbuilding orders placed directly by liner operators.
Some 64% of boxship capacity ordered since 2014 has been by liner operators directly.
Carriers have also dominated the sale-and-purchase market. Around 61% of boxship capacity was bought in the secondhand market since 2019.
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The decline of charter market owners looks set to continue, according to Clarksons.
Container ship charter owners make up just 17% of the orderbook, which is the lowest this century.
The structural changes also mean a broader pool of nationalities hold sway in the charter owned container ship fleet.
Canada’s share of the charter owned fleet has doubled since 2017 because of Seaspan Corp’s remarkable growth.
The country is listed as the third-largest charter market owner with 1.7m teu, thanks to Seaspan, the biggest tonnage provider, which has accounted for around 20% of all container capacity delivered this year.
Japan and China have also had sustained growth in their charter owned fleets since 2010.
Japanese tonnage provider Shoei Kisen Kaisha’s fleet grew fivefold over the period, while Chinese leasing companies Bank of Communications, Minsheng Financial Leasing and CMB Financial Leasing played an increasingly prominent role.
