Containership time charter rates have been falling for 11 months in a row, but have so far remained 60% on average above levels of the end of pre-COVID 2019.
Charter rates reached a high last spring and have exhibited a steady drop ever since. Compared to the peak values of March 2022, rates have decreased by an average of 4.5 times. The prices for Panamax class container ships came down the most during this period – more than 5 times. The most stable were the extreme segments - the largest and smallest ships with the decrease in rates by 3.5 times over the past year.
According to Alphaliner, containership time charter rates dropped by an average of 8% over the past month. The cost of vessel chartering with a capacity of more than 5.5 thousand TEUs fell most dynamically: -19% in January, the minimum losses were in the feeder segment: about -4%.