News / Vessels for charter 'as rare as hens' teeth' – and with daily rates to match

‘A perfect storm’ of ships being taken out of service for scrubber installation and a dearth of new tonnage in all but the very biggest of container vessels has resulted in brokers reporting panamax and other smaller sectors as ‘sold out’.

Charterers are now very much on the back foot and several ocean carriers at any one time can be chasing a suitable vessel that appears ‘open’ on their screens.

One London broker told The Loadstar today that finding panamax vessels was like “looking for hens’ teeth”.

“I have big liner clients banging the table and screaming at me to find tonnage,” he said, “they have been used to being in the driving seat for so long, but now the tables have turned and they don’t like it at all.”

And for those fixtures that are being done, carriers are having to pay twice the daily hire rate of two years ago, and treble that of three years ago.

For example, Zim has just fixed the 2011-built 4,250 teu Constantinos P for 12 months, with options, at a daily hire of $13,400 for deployment in Asia and is also understood to be paying to position the ship.

When the Israeli carrier last fixed the vessel, for a six-month time charter last year, it was paying $7,900 a day, and for its charter by Cosco in 2017, the rate was just $4,500.

Even the top two carriers, Maersk Line and MSC, accustomed to dictating the containership charter market, are not immune to the hike in daily hire rates. Recent reported fixtures show MSC paying $12,500 a day for the 3,820 teu wide-beamed Osaka for a six-month time charter in Asia, and 2M partner Maersk has taken on the post-panamax 4,975 teu wide-beamed RDO Fortune for 10 months, with a two-month option, at a staggering $16,800 a day.

The previous charterer of RDO Fortune was HMM, which fixed the ship last November at $12,750 a day. Given its status, Maersk would have expected to fix the ship at that time at around $10,000 a day.

For the bigger sectors, the liners are also having to dig deeper into pockets when they eventually find a suitable vessel to charter, and this will be knocking big holes in their vessel operating budgets.

For example, MSC has just fixed the 8,063 teu Seamax Bridgeport (ex-OOCL Long Beach) for $30,000 a day for 10 months, with a two-month option, for deployment in Asia. It was most recently on hire to Zim at just $19,000 a day.

A broker source told The Loadstar the liners now wanted to commit for as long as possible if they find the right ship, in order to reduce the risk of paying more on an extension.

And Alphaliner reported this week: “Charterers are increasingly fixing tonnage on a forward basis, some with relatively far off dates in the future when they need specific tonnage.”

The consultant noted that there were currently 31 container vessels, with a total capacity of 350,000 teu, out of service and undergoing scrubber retrofits in shipyards, an operation that can last 50-60 days.