The charter rates continue their upward trend and have now broken through the 10,000 dollar barrier. While the rates are up 61% year-on-year, shipping broker Toepfer Transport says the current levels do not represent record earnings but merely levels at which the shipowners make money again. 

The average charter rate for a 12,500 dwt multipurpose vessel reached 10,285 dollars in June, up over 14% compared to last month when the average rate was just shy of 9,000 dollars. The current rate is in stark contrast to the rate exactly one year ago. In June 2020 the rates reached their bottom at just 6,381 dollars following the beginning of the corona crisis.

The continuous rise in rates has sparked euphoria among shipowners but Toepfer’s lead analyst Yorck Niclas Prehm says the rates do not reflect record earnings. “It has to be kept in mind that the current rate levels do not represent record earnings but just reached levels which make shipowners earn money again after some years of operating close to cost recovery levels”, he says. Prehm also warns that with the summer arriving, a slow down of the growth may be in front of us.