(21.08.2020) The Container Market trajectory remains clearly upwards and, unlike the slowing in pace experienced last week, the market's recovery has actually gathered pace this week, with the New ConTex Index gaining an impressive 24 points rise on last week. The Index is now standing at 392; still low historically and still behind where it was this time last year, but a significant inprovement nonetheless.

The shortage of post-panamax tonnage means any large size available can easily achieve a higher rate than last done and, with demand cascading down the sizes, this means growing demand for classical 4250 TEU panamaxes and increasingly the intermediate 3500 TEUs and 2700 TEUs.So it was not surprising to see the 4250 TEUs score the greatest gains with this size being marked up 12.9% (basis 12 months) on last week, ahead of the 9.1% and 9.5% gains being achieved by the 5700 TEUs and 6500 TEUs respectively.

Of particular note this week is the gain being made by the 2700 TEUs and 3500 TEUs, being marked up 6.9% and 8.9% respectively on last week (both basis 12 months). Although rates for all sizes are recovering the smaller feeder sizs are struggling to recover in comparison although, relative to their ealier losses, they have less ground to make up.

(14.8.2020) The Container market is recovering at a significantly faster rate than it declined when the COVID-19 crisis sparked a Global recession. Actually the Container Industry would appear to be experiencing a V-shaped recovery. The New ConTex Index gained a remarkable 19 points on its close last week and now stands at 368. This is, of course, still a low figure when set in a historical context but this is where we are. The list of open tonnage has shrunk noticeably in the last few weeks which points to a similar trajectory in the short term. However as the dreaded virus has not gone away nor a reliable vaccine yet discovered, the container industry, as with most others, has to remain cautious given the fragile health of the Global economy.

Taking a look at the New ConTex in more detail, the classical panamaxes (4250 TEUs) have scored the strongest gains with a hefty 12.4% gain basis 12 months on the previous week. The 5700 TEUs also fared particularly well (11.5% on last week) whilst the 6500 TEUs might have fared equally well but, as there are not many left to fix, evidence has been lacking. To summarise the fortunes of the smallers sizes, generally the smaller the ship the smaller the percentage gain. But it should be made clear that no size is struggling and all sectors are presently recovering lost ground.

(24.07.2020) The recovery of the New ConTex accelerated this week with a gain of 6 points, after improving 5, 4 and 3 points in the weeks before. The increase was mainly driven by the larger ships of 3500 TEU and larger which registered solid gains. Although all segments were positive the smallest vessels just barely registered any improvement. Activity in Asia, the Americas, and Northern Europe was good whereas in the Mediterranean the summer holiday season is starting to being felt. Southern Europe and Northern Africa though has generally been difficult this year, especially for ships between 1200 and 2000 TEU. As a consequence, for example 10 x 1700 TEU have so far positioned from Europe to the East of Suez in 2020 already.