The container charter market saw a significant rebound in activity in the last fortnight, with the smaller sizes below 2,000 teu in particular, showing strong vitality.
Although charterers have generally become a little more cautious than earlier in the year when fixing tonnage, the market has globally maintained its strong momentum so far, despite the multiple policy and geopolitical threats.
However, period charters have become a little shorter for certain types of ships and more relets have been hitting the market in the past couple of weeks.
Charter rates are meanwhile seeing a slight softening in certain segments but remain historically very healthy and continue to rise in some sizes, particularly in the 1,000-1,249 teu segment which remains very dynamic.
Going forward, the decision by the US and China to suspend punitive tariffs that have caused the container trade between China and the US to drop by 30% in April, is welcome news for the charter market.
The expected rebound in trade, with surging US-bound cargo volumes out of China and a re-opening of services could meanwhile create some bottlenecks and inefficiencies, which are expected to also benefit the charter market through demand for additional tonnage.
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