Container ship charter rates are falling as ocean carriers sit out the seasonally slack fourth quarter and reassess their capacity requirements amid uncertainty over cargo volumes and freight rates going into the new year.
The market for gearless Panamax vessels of 3,500 20-foot equivalent units capacity suffered the steepest decline, with daily earnings falling to $13,250 from $19,000 in September, according Clarkson, a leading London shipbroker.
This is still almost double the average daily rate of $6,575 in 2009 but just over half the 2008 average of $26,125.
A 4,250-TEU gearless vessel on a two year time charter is fetching $22,334 a day compared with $24,250 three months ago, according to the Hamburg Shipbrokers Association.
Smaller vessels are performing better with daily earnings of a 1,700-TEU Handy vessel down just $500 since September at $8,250 and average rates for 750-TEU geared Federmax ships unchanged at $5,300.
The HSA's ConTex index, which tracks charter rates for ships between 1,100 TEUs and 4,250 TEUs, slipped to 548 this week from a peak of 601 in early September.
But the market has held up better than expected and appears to be bottoming out with the ConTex unchanged for two weeks as carriers have withdrawn far fewer services during the slack winter season than a year ago when the industry was still struggling with shrinking cargo volume and slumping freight rates.
The idled fleet has a combined capacity of just 356,000 TEUs compared with 1.5 million TEUs a year ago with charter owners accounting for the majority of jobless ships. Carriers' owned vessels are mostly employed because most liner trades are still making money despite lower utilization rates.
Rates for larger post-Panamax vessels are relatively buoyant as carriers are competing for a dwindling number of ships that will come onto the market by the second quarter of 2011.
Carriers are already making enquires for large ships due for delivery in late 2011 with rates being driven up by forecasts of a growing shortage of post-Panamax tonnage.
An 8,000-TEU ship like one currently chartered to MSC at $26,000 a day is reported to have been fixed by Evergreen at a daily rate of $37,500 for a charter beginning in May.
The market for gearless Panamax vessels of 3,500 20-foot equivalent units capacity suffered the steepest decline, with daily earnings falling to $13,250 from $19,000 in September, according Clarkson, a leading London shipbroker.
This is still almost double the average daily rate of $6,575 in 2009 but just over half the 2008 average of $26,125.
A 4,250-TEU gearless vessel on a two year time charter is fetching $22,334 a day compared with $24,250 three months ago, according to the Hamburg Shipbrokers Association.
Smaller vessels are performing better with daily earnings of a 1,700-TEU Handy vessel down just $500 since September at $8,250 and average rates for 750-TEU geared Federmax ships unchanged at $5,300.
The HSA's ConTex index, which tracks charter rates for ships between 1,100 TEUs and 4,250 TEUs, slipped to 548 this week from a peak of 601 in early September.
But the market has held up better than expected and appears to be bottoming out with the ConTex unchanged for two weeks as carriers have withdrawn far fewer services during the slack winter season than a year ago when the industry was still struggling with shrinking cargo volume and slumping freight rates.
The idled fleet has a combined capacity of just 356,000 TEUs compared with 1.5 million TEUs a year ago with charter owners accounting for the majority of jobless ships. Carriers' owned vessels are mostly employed because most liner trades are still making money despite lower utilization rates.
Rates for larger post-Panamax vessels are relatively buoyant as carriers are competing for a dwindling number of ships that will come onto the market by the second quarter of 2011.
Carriers are already making enquires for large ships due for delivery in late 2011 with rates being driven up by forecasts of a growing shortage of post-Panamax tonnage.
An 8,000-TEU ship like one currently chartered to MSC at $26,000 a day is reported to have been fixed by Evergreen at a daily rate of $37,500 for a charter beginning in May.