Comment / Disconnect: time-charters and the freight market

ID 9333597 © Ryan Stevenson | Dreamstime.com

With vessel asset prices remaining stubbornly high and carrier earnings set to decline, investors may see the next two quarters as a jumping off point from the sector.

The policy and geopolitical backdrop to containership markets have yielded an evident impact on freight market dynamics, but for now both vessel time-charter rates and asset prices have barely budged. This disconnect between freight and time-charter market fortunes seems set to endure for much of this year at least.

As of mid-March, spot rates ...