Orders & Sales – Container ShipsNew Orders – After Maersk, CMA CGM or X-Press Feeders, MPC Container Shipshas now also ordered dual-fuel units with methanol option. Long-term chartercontracts have been signed with North Sea Container Line for the two 1,300 TEUvessels from the Chinese shipyard Taizhou Sanfu, each costing 39 mill. $. Among theother buyers is PIL, having ordered four 8,000 TEU LNG-ships.Secondhand Sales – Although the interest in tonnage is still very high, the secondhandmarket has recently calmed down somewhat. Among the buyers was Maersk,which, according to brokers, is paying 260 mill. $ for the 8,814 TEU sisters »NorthernJasper« and »Northern Jupiter« from the former fleet of Norddeutsche ReedereiH. Schuldt.Demolition Sales – In the entire first half of 2022, no fully cellular container shipwas sold for scrapping – the first time in years, Alphaliner reports. Unsurprisingly,the high charter and freight rates are suspected to be the reason. There is still moremoney to be made from ship operation than could be offset by the quite good recyclingprice level. Alphaliner expects a very low level for the full-year, perhapseven below the 16,500 TEU of 2021.Atlantic area has turned into a major supportfactor for the freight market.Smaller operators aheadMeanwhile, over in the charter market,conditions remain more or less unchanged.Global carriers are still cautiouscommitting to more tonnage given theglobal economic uncertainty leaving a bitmore room for smaller competitors withplants to jobsites worldwide. A clientof ours withdrew a few hundred thousandtons of cargo from SoutheastAsia to Australia only to contract localproduction.Would you go as far to say that the mppmarket is a »bubble« about to burst?Schulte: Well, there could be a fewbubbles here and there, but I don’tthink we see a major shake-up anywherenear what happened after 2010.We saw some transactions both forcharter employment and S&P at extremelylofty levels recently. I doubtthat the business case and market developmentwill be strong enough insome of these cases. However, tonnagesupply will remain relatively short asnewbuilding contracting is limitedand older ships get sold into domesticmarkets where they don’t compete forinternational trades any longer.a logistics or an intra-regional background.As a result, three out of four timecharter fixtures were done by operatorsoutside the top 10 during the last weeks,according to London broker Braemar.With tonnage supply still thin on theground, especially larger ships, hire ratesare only seeing small corrections. Lookingat the Contex, shorter periods weremarked down by no more than 1.3% overthe past four weeks.How will environmental regulation likethe IMO’s EXXI/CII impact the mpp/small bulk market from next year?Schulte: We will see more slow steamingof mpp ships that were built forhigher speeds in the project cargo marketand of less-efficient designs withhigh consumption. This will limit capacityand mitigate any market correction.It annoys me, though, that theregulator places all responsibility onthe ship owner, not on the operator.Another issue is that ship types, engagedin similar trades, are treated differently.One example: Our 12,500 dwtgeared bulker »COE Laura« must havea speed limiter installed, but an mpp ofthe same size with a speed/consumptionratio that’s even worse doesnot! This is a problem because both,small bulkers and mpp, often competefor the same cargoes.Interview: Michael HollmannContainer ship t / c market400035003000250022.02.22Container freight marketWCI Shanghai-RotterdamWCI Shanghai-Los AngelesMÄRKTE | MARKETSCOMPASS12,500 tdw MPP/HL »F-Type« vessel for a 6–12 months TCTankersBaltic Dirty Tanker IndexBaltic Clean Tanker Index1,4671,326+ 20.8 %– 23.5 %BunkersVLSFO 0.5 Rotterdam $ /tMGO Rotterdam $ /tForward / Swap price Q4/22VLSFO 0.5 Rotterdam $ /tConTex9,092 $ /FEU7,280 $ /FEU7891,08065721.07.22Month on Month 3,256 -1.3 %Dry cargo / BulkBaltic Dry Index2,118Time charter averages / spot: $ /dCapesize 5TC average21,999Panamax 5TC average (82k)18,455Supramax 10TC average (58k) 22,800Handysize 7TC average (38k)21,820Forward / ffa front month (Aug’22): $ /dCapesize 180k23,586Panamax 82k21,179MPPJuly '2111,225 $TMI – Toepfer'sMultipurpose Index- 5.3 %- 8.5 %–10.0 %+9.6 %–25.0 %–16.0 %–9.5 %–0.9 %–9.5 %July '2223,099 $Shortsea / CoasterNorbroker 3,500 dwt earnings est. €HC Shortsea IndexBMTI/EUSSIX Inter-Black Sea ($/t)4,20033.7243.57+/- 0.0 %- 0.4 %- 19.7 %Norbroker: spot t/c equivalent assessment basis round voyageNorth Sea/Baltic; HC Shipping & Chartering index tracking spotfreights on 5 intra-European routes;BMTI/EUSSIX: 3,000 t Odessa to Sea of Marmara–8.8%–17.9%–7.5 %Data per 21.07.2022, month-on-monthHANSA – International Maritime Journal 08 | 202211
