MC-Seamax has fixed a pair of its large boxships at levels far exceeding last done.
The New York owner has fixed the 8,063-teu Seamax Darien (built 2003) to Mediterranean Shipping Co for 12 months at $20,000 per day, European brokers said.
That is 30% to 40% higher than fixtures of similar ships a few weeks ago, although Seamax is likely to surpass this benchmark in the coming days with the pending fixture of the 8,059-teu Seamax New Haven (built 2005).
“We don’t comment on fixtures, but the charter market for our vessels is definitely improving,” managing partner and co-founder Cao Deambrosio said.
Charter rates for large boxships are rising on a daily basis and are at least $5,000 per day higher than a month ago.
The improvement is driven by a significant increase in cargo demand, as well as the needs of new alliances that are preparing to launch their service schedules at the start of April.
New alliances
That includes Ocean Network Express — the liner shipping operation formed by Japan’s NYK Line, K Line and MOL — which is paying Greek owner Technomar Shipping about $20,500 per day to take the 6,927-teu Alexandra (built 2013) for 12 months.
Charter rates have been rising every week since September and are at their highest levels since the third quarter of 2017, even though recent weeks have seen container freight rates suffer a post-Chinese New Year decline.
Brokers attribute that to huge cargo demand and believe prospects are good for the next two years due to an ageing fleet and the relatively thin orderbook for medium-sized containerships.
In the larger charter market sizes, the 9,178-teu Santa Loretta (built 2005) has reportedly gone to Cosco for 12 to 15 months at $21,000 per day.
The 8,084-teu Conti Crystal (built 2006) and Conti Champion (built 2005) have reportedly been taken by Evergreen for up to a year’s trading at between $17,000 and $18,500 per day.
