Recently, container ship leasing activities have been in a downturn, and only a few fixed contracts have been reached, including two Panamax ships, two large feeder ships, three regional feeder ships and one small feeder ship.
Martini chartering, a Hamburg based ship brokerage company, said that since container operators focus on forward fixed contracts, they tend to buy ships, and the supply of transport capacity will remain in shortage for the foreseeable future. Although the Shanghai container freight rate index has fallen by about 17% since the beginning of January and recently returned to the level in August 2021, there is no sign of a decline in container ship rents so far. This reflects the fact that there is no direct correlation between the trend of container freight rate and container ship rent.
Alphaliner analyzed that in Asia and Atlantic China Welding Consumables Inc(600558) region, the demand for small feeder ships with transport capacity less than 1000 TEU is still strong. The company said that as the supply of transport capacity remained tight, the rental price continued to maintain an all-time high. However, it should be noted that several major operators take a wait-and-see attitude, which is due to the uncertainty of the geopolitical situation and the high-level operation of the epidemic affecting the confidence of practitioners.
Alphaliner pointed out that ship demand may not be as urgent as in previous weeks, and most major Charterers seem willing to wait for possible adjustments in the market. However, due to the continuous shortage of various container ships and the interruption of the supply chain, the Charter rate is unlikely to fall sharply from the current historical high in the foreseeable future. At the same time, the ship trading market is also silent, not only because of the lack of supply, but also because some buyers think the current ship price is too high.
