MÄrkte | Markets Fixing rally brings back hope to feeders Hire rates for smaller boxships picking up again after months of sustained pressure. Fortunes for smaller tonnage in the dry cargo trade improving, too. By Michael Hollmann The weeks following Chinese New Year in early Febuary have seen mixed blessings, with only very large gearless tramp container ships initially benfiting from a resurrection of tonnage demand and climbing rate levels. During March, the market finally began to brighten up also for the feeder and handy classes below 3,000 TEU. The improvements are mirrored by the New ConTex (capturing 1,100-4,250 TEU type vessels) which posted its first modest month-on-month gain (+1.0%) during the last four weeks since our July issue last year. Growing levels of tonnage availability made sure that pressure on rates was maintained for more than half a year. However, in early/ mid March chartering activity for smaller vessels started to surge across Asia and the Far East as well as the Mediterranean. 7,600 $ per day for 1,740 TEU The result was a sharp fall in spot/prompt vessels – by as much as 50% in some segments such as 2,700/2,800 TEU gearless and 500-800 TEU – and a stabilisation in charter rates. Some classes are now seeing a tentative firmer trend in fixing levels as borne out by the New ConTex: The geared 1,700 TEU type saw its 12-month period assessment lifted from 7,389 to 7,695 $/ day between 26 Febuary and 21 March, the index rate for 6 month durations rose from 7,163 to 7,430 $/day. At the time of writing there are growing reports of fixtures of standard geared 1,700 TEU ship at mid/upper $ 7,000’s compared to flat 7,000 $/day during the previous weeks. Hanseatic Unity reportedly fixed the »Hansa Freyburg« (1,740 TEU geared, built 2003) to CMA CGM Group at 7,600 $/day for 9-12 months, it also extended the »Hansa Coburg« (2007) for 5-7 months with the same charterer for the Australia/New Zealand trade, brokers said. The first designs to witness fresh demand were modern economic and Bangkok-max types at levels from mid $ 10,000’s to mid $ 11,000’s but supply has almost dried up, prompting more Asian operators to consider standard vessels again. »The general sentiment is definitely more positive as spot ships get scarcer or disappear completely« »The general sentiment is definitely more positive as spot ships get scarcer or disappear completely«, noted one broker. Another one stated, »owners have regained their confidence, they are able to command premiums on last done again.« There is also more optimism among owners active in the 2,500-2,800 TEU sub-panamax sectors where spot tonnage supply started diminishing fast during the first half of March on the back of increased fixing. Demand in Asia was pivotal in bringing down overall spot availability although interest also picked up in the Med (g`less and geared) and in the Caribbean. Rate levels in Asia and the Atlantic continued to show quite an imbalance, with the latter providing significant premiums: 800 $ and more for gearless 2,800 TEU and 500-1,500 $ for geared 2,500 TEU vessels. Hope for cascading Perhaps the most active player in the 2,500 TEU segment was Maersk with a rumoured package deal for period extensions of six vessels plus further fixtures in the Mediterranean and the US Gulf. Still, the rate improvements in the sub-panamax arena look pretty marginal so far, with the 12-month period assessments of the ConTex broker panel only up a smidge for geared 2,500 and gearless 2,700 TEU designs at 9,157 $/day and 8,804 $/day as per 21 March. Owners will be keenly watching events in the traditional post-panamax sector above 5,500 TEU hoping that the sustained upward momentum will finally filter down to the smaller sizes. With the supply of standard 8,500 TEU ships drying out, rate levels rose by another 3,000 $ to circa 22,000 $/day last done, but that figure may already have been outstripped by a couple thousand dollars as this copy of HANSA lands on your desk, brokers predict. With Ab sofort gilt auch für unser exklusives Angebot zu »Raten, Preisen, Indizes«: In unserem neuen Portal HANSA+ vereinen wir eine umfangreiche Übersicht über alle wichtigen Kennzahlen der Schifffahrtsmärkte. Sichern Sie sich den Zugriff auf Fracht- und Charterraten in der Container-, Bulk- und Tankschifffahrt, Bunkerpreise, MPP-, Shortsea- und Umschlagindizes, Ölpreise und vieles mehr … Erfahren Sie mehr über alle Optionen ab Seite 18 und jederzeit unter www.hansa-online.de. 8 HANSA International Maritime Journal 04 | 2019
MÄrkte | Markets Orders & Sales New Orders Container Orders only applied to smaller types between 635 and 2,200 TEU. Maersk confirmed lease-financing deals for 13 feeder (2,200 TEU), to be bult in China (28 mill. $ each) and Japan. Chinese owner Hunan Ocean ordered two 635 TEUs at Hunan Jinhang. They will be equipped with dual fuel engines and will be deployed for river transport. Sinokor continued its ordering spree and ordered two firm 1,800 TEUs at Hyundai Mipo. Secondhand Sales Container The market stayed on a low level, we saw seven transactions. Greek owner Contships implemented two transactions with in total seven vessels. The two 2007 Chinese-built 1,432 TEUs »Independent Accord« and »Independent Concept« were purchased from Germany`s ICL for 12 mill. $. The other deal included five feedermaxes, purchased from Hartmann Schiffahrts KG for 25.5 mill. $ en bloc. Demolition Sales Activity continued its pace with an additional 12 vessels sold for scrap. As long as the market remains oversupplied and scrap prices stay firm, scrapping activity is likely to remain on a high level. The vast majority of the vessels were recycled in Bagladesh, which remains the key player in the Indian sub-continent. However, India improved its competitiveness steadily, due to the stabilization of steel prices coupled with a strengthening of the Rupee. In general, scrap prices remained stable between 4/ ldt and 5/ldt on the Indian subcontinent. The highest price achieved the 5,040 TEU vessel »Zim Haifa« (5/ldt). Jan Göldner COMPASS Container ship t / c market 550 500 450 400 350 20.09.18 Container freight market 21.03.19 Month on Month 390 • + 1.0 % WCI Shanghai-Rotterdam 1,431 $/FEU - 13.6 % WCI Shanghai-Los Angeles 1,392 $/FEU - 29.7 % the shortage of very large gearless vessels tightening, it was the next-smaller postpanamax types of 6,000-6,500 TEU that suddenly found themselves at the centre of attention. Increased activity saw period rates nudging up by a few thousand dollars both east and west of Suez. The latest available benchmarks are the extension of the 6,039 TEU »Long Beach Trader« (built 2007) at 13,750 $/day for 5 months with KMTC in Asia and the extension of the 5,762 TEU »E. R. Seoul« (built 2000) at 15,000 $/day for around one year trading between the US Gulf and the East Coast of South America for Hapag-Lloyd. Positive outlook with caution The positive trend is widely expected to continue over the coming months, with the second quarter usually the most active in the boxship charter market. However, some caution may be prudent given the latest wobbles in the liner freight markets. Cargo volumes have not recovered as expected since Chinese New Year, even increased blanked sailings in the Far East could not save box spot rates from steep falls over the past weeks (see »compass« side bar). Port throughput and cargo data for February are not yet available, though. For the time being, the consensus remains that global container trade growth is heading for +4% or more this year. Bulker spot market divided The dry cargo market continues to go through a difficult period, with the capesize segment suffering badly from a lack of iron ore spot business ex Brazil while the panamax and geared bulker types have enjoyed a bit of a recovery. The Baltic Dry Index achieved a 10% increase over the past four weeks, spurred mainly by rising activity in panamax chartering. Brokers pointed to two areas of strength in the market. First of all the East Coast of South America where the grain export season gets underway with 82,000 dwt kamsarmaxes now achieving 15,300 $ plus 530,000 $ ballast bonus for trips to the far East and over 16,000 $/d for trips to Europe, both for mid/end of April dates. Secondly, there has been a reported increase in coal liftings from Indonesia to India in the first months of the year, benefiting both panamaxes and supramaxes (52,000-58,000 dwt). Handysize: Substantial gains The handyisze market recorded substantial gains across Asia and on the East Coast of South America, with the 6 route-time charter average for the 28,000 dwt type increasing by almost 30% to over 6,600 $/d. Bigger modern 38,000 dwt vessels are netting almost 8,600 $/d on average in time charter trip business. Business from ECSA to the continent or Mediterranean improved to high $ 9,000’s/mid $ 10,000’s by the middle of March. East of Suez, activity was the strongest in southeast Asia and Australia with a steady flow of all kinds of cargoes from minerals, salt, sugar to alumina. The positive sentiment in this segment is also mirrored by the period market, with short/medium durations concluded at levels way above 9,000 $/d with delivery in the Atlantic. n Dry cargo / Bulk Baltic Dry Index 695 + 10.3 % Spot time charter averages ($/day) Capesize 5TC average 4,511 - 24.7 % Panamax 4TC average 8,105 + 53.0 % Supramax 6TC average 8,745 + 17.5 % Handysize 6TC average 6,637 + 29.9 % Forward / ffa front month Apr´19 ($/day) Capesize 180k 6,967 + 9.0 % Panamax 74k 9,229 + 30.1 % MPP March ’18 $ 6,956 TMI Toepfer’s Multipurpose Index March ’19 $ 7,440 12,500 tdw MPP/HL »F-Type« vessel for a 6-12 months TC Tankers Baltic Dirty Tanker Index 705 - 15.2 % Baltic Clean Tanker Index 634 + 4.8 % Shortsea / Coaster Norbroker 3,500 dwt earnings est. 2,500 €/d - 3.9 % HC Shortsea Index 17.50 - 2.6 % ISTFIX Shortsea Index 565 - 0 % Norbroker: spot t/c equivalent assessment basis round voyage North Sea/Baltic; HC Shipping & Chartering index tracking spot freights on 5 intra-European routes; Istfix Istanbul Freight Index covering spot freight ex Black Sea Bunkers IFO 380 Rotterdam $/t 411 + 1.0 % MGO Rotterdam $/t 579 - 0.7 % Forward / Swap price Q2 / 19 IFO 380 Rotterdam $/t 400.0 + 1.5 % Data per 21.03.2019, Alterations within four weeks HANSA International Maritime Journal 04 | 2019 9
