Global Retail Giant Joins Hands With Shipping Company to Lease Multiple Container Ships

Recently, American shipping company Pasha Hawaii has teamed up with retail giant Costco to make another big move in the hot container charter market.

Pasha Hawaii, backed by Costco, has set new all-time highs over the past week by outbidding other operators to lease multiple vessels from the charter market, Braemar ACM reported. point.

Pasha Hawaii, which has passed the Jones Act, has confirmed that one of its chartered vessels is Carpathia, which is owned by MPC Container ships and has a capacity of 2,800 TEU. The contract will be Effective in September, the contract is for 3 years and the daily rent is $42,000. In total, shipbrokers link Pasha Hawaii to seven charters of containerships ranging from 2,100 to 3,500 TEU, most of which are for three-year terms.

Last September, Costco, the world's fifth-largest retailer, tried to take the shipping problem into its own hands. Costco revealed at the time that it leased three container ships and thousands of containers to transship about 20% of its Asian imports, with vessels ranging from 800 to 1,000 TEU. The partnership is another move by Costco to expand its operations in Pasha Hawaii with vessels two to four times larger than its previous charter.

Braemar ACM said Pasha Hawaii's bold move in the 2000-4000TEU range will make other operators face potential difficulties in securing alternative capacity.

One of the other high-profile charter deals in recent days is from the Italian RIF Line (ranked 94th liner company in the world) that entered the Asia-Europe trade route last year. The shipbroker said the company had extended the charter of the container ship Green Ocean (1,809 TEU) for another six months to $110,000 a day.

Regarding the current stage of the containership leasing market, Braemar ACM said: "The market dynamics of high rents are expected to continue throughout 2022, and the containership leasing market is rapidly approaching the all-time high of two months ago."

"There will be a shortage of vessel capacity this year, and charterers will have to look at finding smaller vessels," the New ConTex chartering index compilers said in their latest report.

"All signs point to continued market strength, with demand outstripping supply across all sectors," Clarkson said in his latest weekly report. "Logistics and trucking companies continue to seek short-term leases of any size, and in some cases, they are also actively seeking longer term leases." lease term."

Currently, the 6-12 month daily rent assessment for 4,400TEU container ships has risen by 2% week-on-week to a new record of $109,000 per day, while Clarkson's container ship rental index has also risen by 2% week-on-week to 388 points for 2021 the highest level since November.