The container ship charter market continues to surprise, with shipping lines showing an endless appetite for tonnage of all sizes, despite financial weakening and the continuous fall in freight rates, according to Alphaliner.
“With tonnage exhausted in the largest sizes for 2025 and early 2026, forward contracts are becoming increasingly distant, with charterers willing to secure vessels that will become available not only in the second half of 2026, but also in 2027,” the consultant said.
“Even with very distant delivery dates, some charterers are willing to accept multi-year employments at solid rates for the right vessels. The last few weeks gave multiple examples of this, with several large 8,500 to 10,000 TEU units securing additional employment from 2027 onwards,” it added.
In the classic 4,000-5,200 TEU panamax segment, Alphaliner observed frantic chartering activity, with about a dozen vessels securing three-year charters at healthy rates above USD 30,000 per day, with deliveries ranging from the second quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2027. The 3,000-3,800 TEU segment also experienced similar developments.
“These moves highlight once again the determination of shipping lines not to lose tonnage, with an increasingly illiquid charter market for some vessel types, particularly for large units or modern and energy-efficient vessels in the small and medium sizes,” the entity pointed out.
“As a result, in addition to offering multi-year charters for large vessels, some shipping lines are now also willing to provide long-term employments for new vessels as small as 1,800 TEU, in some cases for up to 10 years, a measure that until recently would have been highly unlikely,” it added.
In this context, Alphaliner emphasized that “there is no doubt that this policy shift could help NTOs order new vessels in greater numbers in the small and medium sizes, eventually contributing to renewing the fleets of tonnage providers.”
“On the other hand, market players are closely monitoring the Suez Canal, speculating on when a large-scale return of container lines will take place. The truth is that no one knows, but one thing is certain: a large-scale return will occur at some point and it could be in 2026,” it expanded.
However, this process will take time. In the short term, a diversion via Suez “is likely to generate temporary operational disruptions in the services provided by shipping lines on the East-West routes and aggravate port congestion, especially in Europe,” Alphaliner pointed out.
“On the positive side, that could potentially benefit the charter market by creating additional demand for tonnage. The long term seems bleaker, with widely expected overcapacity returning, although it can be anticipated that several redundant vessels will find their place on the fast-developing north-south routes, replacing smaller, older, and less efficient ships that will be scrapped,” it concluded.
