Soaring container freight rates and a shortage of boxes have been well documented, containership charter rates have also been enjoying their day in the sun, if not quite at the record levels seen for freight rates.
A surge in charter rates has been witnessed across all sizes of containerships has led the Howe Robinson Containership Charter Index to stand at 1,293 points last week, its highest level in over 12 years since 2008.
John D’Ancona, head of containership research for Howe Robinson Partners, told the Tradewinds Shipowners Forum at SMM Digital, “Certainly these 12 years have been incredibly important, not only the difficulties but also creating the solution to where we are at the moment.