Charter rates for medium-sized container vessels continued to surge last week, igniting hopes that a broad-based recovery in the boxship charter market is well under way.

The ConTex market index climbed by 3.2% or 14 points to 454 last week, which is driven by improvements for ships of between 2,000 and 3,000teu. Geared 2,500teu ships saw their rate assessments for 12 month periods marked up by almost 10% to just shy of US$9,200/day while the gearless 2,700teu type logged an improvement of 4.5% for one year time charters. "We have not seen activity at the levels we are seeing now in the 2,000-3,000teu sector for a very long time," commented one ConTex panel broker who predicts hire levels to firm up further in the coming weeks. Latest fixture lists show firm demand for geared 2,500teu ships for a variety of trades to and from west Africa, the west coast of South America and intra-Asia.

One Hamburg-based chartering broker who exclusively markets a medium-sized fleet up to post-Panamax size reported strong enquiries for one of its prompter geared 2,500teu ships several weeks ahead of the expiry of its current charter contract. By contrast, demand for Panamax charter ships has slowed down. Maxi-Panamax ships, like the 5,098teu Wehr Singapore, achieved slightly higher levels of US$16,500/day in a circa 6 month extension with NYK while smaller Panamaxes were seen fixing at around last done levels in the high US$14,000s.