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Transfar takes 4,600 teu boxship for $200,000 a day

Money is no object to the Singapore-registered, Alibaba-linked Transfar Shipping – getting box tonnage, whatever the costs is the priority in today’s tight container markets.

Brokers report Transfar has taken the 13-year-old, 4,600 teu Northern Prelude from Germany’s Northern Shipping for a period of up to three months at a stunning $200,000 a day.

Last week UK-based Lomar Shipping committed the 2010-built, 2,872 teu Windswept for $52m to Transfar. Lomar had picked up the ship – along with a sister vessel – in late 2020 for just over $10m per unit.

Transfar is owned by Chinese 3PL Worldwide Logistics, a company which Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, bought sizeable stake in 2020. The company is one of a host of new names who have entered the transpacific trades during the pandemic.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. Wonder what will happen to all the container fleets that are being operated by the Transfars and other newcomers when they realise that their boxes are being scattered to the four winds and that they have no control over their whereabouts?
    Storage, re-positioning and idle costs will start to hit them after their expensive ship charters have been redelivered and then they will wish they had spent more time on box logistics management.

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