News / Costco bites the early off-hire bullet amid demand slump and tumbling rates

Photo: Vesselfinder

The containership charter market correction has seen daily hire rates stabilise at levels roughly twice as high as those achieved prior to the pandemic, due to the limited supply of open tonnage.

However, faced with a slump in demand and freight rates in free-fall, operators are looking to buy themselves out of expensive long-term charters, meaning more ships will hit the market, dragging down prices.

Indeed, non-operating containership owner MPC Container Ships (MPCC) announced it had reached a “commercial agreement” for the ...