Fixture reports in soaring container ship markets are now hardly worth the name, according to Michael Zankl, managing director at German shipbroker Hanse Bereederung.

“We see weekly fixture reports without any fixtures and owners/brokers are left without any open positions until after the summer or even until 2023," he told TradeWinds.

Any tonnage that is left is now being lined up for shorter-term deals.

“We feel more and more owners are willing to fix short-term periods as they already secured the majority of their tonnage [for] long-term coverage,” Zankl said.

Panamax container ships are now enjoying record levels of $200,000 per day, with 2,000-teu vessels at $150,000 per day and 1,700-teu ships trying to achieve $100,000 per day.

Even on short period deals, Hanse is seeing rates of $70,000 per day for a 1,400-teu ship over 12 months, or a 1,700-teu feeder fixed in the region of $80,000 for four to five months.

TradeWinds reported this week that China-backed Transfar Shipping continued to make waves in the charter market by fixing a modern panamax at the $200,000 level.

Brokers said the 4,600-teu Northern Prelude (built 2009) was taken for three months.

The ship, controlled by private equity-backed V.Ships, operates for Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, which took the vessel on charter in October 2020 at $14,000 per day.

All this means that for the first time ever, container pools can work like pools should work, Zankl believes.

Flexibility on charter duration

He said pool managers can fix at high levels for long-term periods on a certain percentage of the fleet, while booking some ships for medium periods and keeping a small number to play the market.

And Zankl said a vessel’s age is also “no longer relevant to charterers”.

This was proved by the three-year extension of Euroseas’ 1,439-teu Aegean Express (built 1997) at $41,000 per day by Continental Shipping Line, while a 1998-built ship was reported booked by TS Lines for a year at about $50,000 per day.

“Furthermore, we see more and more resales at good profits…as secondhand prices are going along with the improved charter market, and charterers decide to buy tonnage instead of paying sky-high rates and end up close to the purchase price,” Zankl said.

War to increase congestion

Zankl also pondered how the Russia-Ukraine war will influence the market, with tankers and bulkers are already seeing higher rates.

The shipbroker believes the backlog of containers will now increase even further, as liner companies have to re-route discharges at Black Sea ports.

They will have to switch to Mediterranean ports which are already working up to their maximum because of the general cargo backlog, Zankl argues.

“The possibility of further delays are high and most likely containers will just sit for longer times somewhere in the port or depot and will not reach the customers,” he said.

“In the long run, global trade will be disturbed and the growth forecast must be revised downward,” Zankl warned.