Containership charter rates now stand at more than double their previous peak 16 years ago. Charter rates for shipping’s hottest sector have more than quadrupled from the start of this year and are now 128% above the previous 2005 peak, according to Clarkson Research Services. 1,700 teu ships are now able to command $51,000 a day for six -to 12-month contracts, while the rate for a 4,400 teu ship is about to crack the $100,000 a day mark, sitting on $97,500 a day with ships in the 6,800 teu range pocketing $111,500 per day.
“In its complicated simplicity the current market may resemble a bubble-like environment but the demand for more radical chartering solutions is still there and the inherent difficulties of the global supply chain guarantee that it may be so well into 2022,” creators of Germany NewContex chartering index noted in a weekly report published on Friday while discussing the raft of big retailers paying “colourful” sums to charter in boxships over the summer.
The rate for a 4,400 teu ship is about to crack the $100,000 a day mark
Splash reported last week on Ikea joining the likes of Walmart and Home Depot in taking in its own tonnage.
The situation has become so tight that even dry bulk operators have entered the fray with Swire Bulk and Pacific Basin among the first confirmed parties to be offering container shipments on their dedicated bulk carriers.
