Market Report

Former Reports:

Container update 15th December, 2005

The charter market in November and early December offers two differing faces to market participants and observers. On the one hand, prompt ships are still suffering to find decent employment whilst more sophisticated ships are mostly being able to secure forward employment at attractive periods / rates. It is furthermore interesting to notice that geared ships, particularly in the atlantic basin, are faced with a higher demand than gearless vessels.

We foresee ongoing difficulties for the remaining ships in 2005 to find satisfying employment and believe that owners of these ships will try to bridge the gap to bring them into the second quarter of 2006 by fixing rather short periods. The outlook for the first and second quarter of 2006 remains uncertain. Some of the forward deals being done last month are filling owners with optimism for the next couple of months whilst other fixtures will certainly be used by charterers to highlight an ongoing fall of the market.

In excess of 2000 TEU we have seen surprisingly good forward fixtures like the geared 2500 TEU ships Frisia Loga and Ems Trader that fixed around USD 25,000 for periods of two respectively one year (s). On the other hand we noticed that two gearless ships, the Northern Trust and the Cimbria obtained comparably poor rates. Although the gearless ships seem to be in less demand than the geared ships, as stated above, we find that the rates are still on the low side looking at the other features of these ships.

In the medium sector between 1300 and 1900 TEU we can only repeat our statement from above. The spot market remains weak whilst the market for forward deliveries looks much brighter from Owners' point of view. Prompt ships like the Rio Branco and Arabian Express had to accept shorter periods at rates in the USD 13's whereas vessels with a forward delivery during the first or even the second quarter in 2006 where able to achieve mid to long term employments at rates well above the spot market (see fixtures of the three Alpha II types or La Paloma). As mentioned in our introduction it is however noteworthy that the more sophisticated ships with a high reefer intake or a good speed are the first ones being fixed respectively extended.

Around 1000 TEU activity continued at a fairly moderate level. The most interesting deals were done on CV 1100 Newbuildings with delivery in 2006, although the fixture periods differed enormously. Fesco fixed their first Newbuilding for 2 years to CMA at a rate of USD 12,500 for early 2006 delivery, whereas Hartmann, reportedly fixed two sister ships to Delphis at the same rate but for a period of five years.

FIXTURES

Gearless

Santa Catalina '01	opt PONL
45,500 dwt 3400 teu (2325 teu at 14ts) 800 reefers / 23,5kn on 113,0ts opt 12 mos ww trade	private

Northern Trust '93	COSCO
42,300 dwt 3330 teu (2402 at 14ts) 150 reefers / 21,0kn on 95,0ts 30 mos atlantic trade	21,500

Cimbria '02	ext CMA CGM
39,358 dwt 2826 teu (2020 at 14ts) 554 reefers / 24,0kn on 95,0ts ext 24 mos ww trade	21,800

Merkur Star '95	Maersk Sealand
41,830 dwt 2480 teu (2102 at 14ts) 150 reefers / 20,0kn on 72,0ts 3-4 mos atlantic trade	24,000

Duburg '90	MOL
26,288 dwt 1743 teu (131´5 at 14ts) 140 reefers / 18,7kn on 46,5ts abt 2-3 weeks feast trade	14,250

Buxlagoon '94	STX PANOCEAN
23,465 1684 teu (1191 at 14ts) 152 reefers / 19,0kn on 48,0ts 6-7 mos feast trade -relet fm nyk	14,900

Arabian Express '97	ext KMTC
18,576 dwt 1439 teu (1140 at 14ts) 100 reefers / 19,0kn on 36,0ts ext 4-6 mos feast trade	13,250

Rio Branco '98	Seacon
20,100 dwt 1301 teu (1000 at 14ts) 63 reefers / 17,0kn on 29,5ts 3 mos feast trade	13,800

Dubai Ambition '88	Asiatic Shipping Services
19,710 dwt 1171 teu (940 at 14ts) 100 reefers / 16,0kn on 40,0ts 9 mos feast / ioc trade	11,500

Geared

Susanne Schulte '01	PONL
34,717 dwt 2560 teu (1850 at 14ts) 600 reefers / 21,90kn on 87,0ts opt 12 mos ww trade	private

Frisia Loga '06	CP Ships
33,780 dwt 2478 teu (1912 at 14ts) 400 reefers / 22,0kn 24 mos ww trade	25,000

Ems Trader '00	Hapag Lloyd
34,000 dwt 2442 teu (1884 at 14ts) 400 reefers / 21,8kn on 75,0ts 12 mos ww trade	24,900

H Ronneburg '04	Maersk Sealand
23,508 dwt 1740 teu (1330 at 14ts) 296 reefers / 20,5kn on 58,0ts opt 12 mos atlantic trade	16,500

Hansa Brandenburg '03	Maersk Sealand
23,508 dwt 1740 teu (1330 at 14ts) 300 reefers / 21,0kn on 64,0ts ext 16 mos pacific trade	19,975

Northern Harmony '94	ZIM
20,252 dwt 1709 teu (1177 at 14ts) 72 reefers / 19,0kn on 43,0ts 10-11 mos atlantic trade	15,150

La Paloma '93	ext CMA CGM
21,648 dwt 1667 teu (1080 at 14ts) 150 reefers / 20,0kn on 52,0ts ext 14-16 mos cont/eafrica trade	19,000 net

Nadir '97	ext Maersk Sealand
25,100 dwt 1647 teu (1250 at 14ts) 353 reefers/ 21,5kn on 68,0ts 26-28 mos ww trade	19,300

Sirius '98	ext Maersk Sealand
25,100 dwt 1647 teu (1250 at 14ts) 353 reefers / 21,5kn on 68,0ts ext 26-28 mos ww trade	19,300

Orion '97	ext Maersk Sealand
25,100 dwt 1647 teu (1200 at 14ts) 353 reefers / 21,5kn on 68,0ts ext 26-28 mos ww trade	19,300

Westermuehlen '93	Safmarine
20,140 dwt 1388 teu (1014 at 14ts) 75 reefers / 18,5kn on 45,0ts 10 mos safrica/cont trade	15,300

Columbus Victoria '79	Samudera
23,165 dwt 1211 teu (824 at 14ts) 24 reefers / 18,5kn 3 mos feast trade (relet fm hamb. sued)	12,000

Orient Spirit '82	Seacon
20,828 dwt 1152 teu (1152 at 14ts) 16,0kn on 34,0ts ext 12 mos ag trade	12,750

Fesco Askold '06	CMA CGM
13,760 dwt 1118 teu (700 at 14ts) 220 reefers / 19,5kn on 36,0ts 24 mos ww trade	12,500

Hartmann CV 1100 NB tbn Leine '06	Delphis
13,760 dwt 1118 teu (700 at 14ts) 220 reefers / 19,5kn on 36,0ts 5 yrs ww trade	12,500

Hartmann CV 1100 NB tbn Delme '06	Delphis
13,760 dwt 1118 teu (700 at 14ts) 220 reefers / 19,5kn on 36,0ts 5 yrs ww trade	12,500

Sea Space '86	Samudera
16,882 dwt 896 teu (611 at 14ts) 90 reefers / 15,0kn on 27,0ts ext 3 mos feast trade	private

This report reflects information given in good faith to the best of our knowledge, but without guarantee.