Service
We provide a comprehensive range of commercial chartering services for container vessels, including chartering, operations, marine accounting, and compliance with future fuels.
We foster strong relationships with owners, charterers and brokers, identify market trends, align ships with market demands, negotiate contracts, and secure optimal employment. Our services also cover daily operations, coordinating with Owners and Charterers, overseeing vessel maintenance, managing off-hire periods, and resolving claims or disputes.
The HARPEX
The HARPEX (Harper Petersen Charter Rates Index) is published by Harper Petersen and reflects the worldwide price development on the charter market for container ships. The HARPEX was originally developed in 2004 with data accumulated since 2001, adjusted in 2011 and 2017 in response to clients and users. The charter rates for 6-12 months fixture periods are assessed weekly on the basis of actual weekly fixtures reported and our own market assessment.
HARPEX | Vessel Size in TEU - Rates in US$ | ||||||||||
Index | 700 | 1100 | 1700 | 1800 | 2500 | 2700 | 3500 | 4250 | 6500 | 8500 | |
14-Mar-2025 | 2,072 | 9,000 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 | 31,500 | 33,500 | 41,000 | 53,000 | 64,000 | 74,000 |
07-Mar-2025 | 2,070 | 8,750 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 | 31,500 | 33,500 | 41,000 | 53,000 | 64,000 | 74,000 |
28-Feb-2025 | 2,070 | 8,750 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 | 31,500 | 33,500 | 41,000 | 53,000 | 64,000 | 74,000 |
21-Feb-2025 | 2,067 | 8,750 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 29,000 | 31,000 | 33,500 | 41,000 | 53,000 | 64,000 | 74,000 |
The full HARPEX Series is available by subscription. For further information, please contact us under: administration@harperpetersen.com
Our HARPEX index was developed in 2004 with data accumulated since 2001. In 2011 and again in 2017 the HARPEX was adjusted to correctly reflect the current container charter market. While the adjustment in 2011 involved a shift in methodology from a stochastic model to a panel poll-based assessment, the change in 2017 incorporated two new ship classes.
Harper Petersen provides the index for each calendar week based on rate assessments for nine classes of ships. The assessments assume 6-12-Months charter periods and are based on actual weekly fixture reports of the container market as well as Haper Petersen’s own market assessment. The published charter rate levels are in US Dollars for the following size / specification of container ships.
700 teu gearless | abt 700 teu | abt 400@14t | abt 8400 dwt | abt 100 reefer | abt 17kn |
1100 teu geared | abt 1100 teu | abt 700@14t | abt 14000 dwt | abt 200 reefer | abt 19kn |
1700 teu geared | abt 1700 teu | abt 1300@14t | abt 23000 dwt | abt 300 reefer | abt 20kn |
1800 teu geared | abt 1800 teu | abt 1300@14t | abt 23000 dwt | abt 300 reefer | abt 18kn |
2500 teu geared | abt 2500 teu | abt 1850@14t | abt 34000 dwt | abt 300 reefer | abt 22kn |
2700 teu gearless | abt 2700 teu | abt 2100@14t | abt 37000 dwt | abt 300 reefer | abt 22kn |
3500 teu gearless | abt 3500 teu | abt 2400@14t | abt 42000 dwt | abt 300 reefer | abt 22kn |
4250 teu gearless | abt 4250 teu | abt 2800@14t | abt 50000 dwt | abt 400 reefer | abt 23kn |
6500 teu gearless | abt 6500 teu | abt 4900@14t | abt 82000 dwt | abt 500 reefer | abt 24kn |
8500 teu gearless | abt 8500 teu | abt 6350@14t | abt 100000 dwt | abt 700 reefer | abt 25kn |
The HARPEX in combination with published rates is a powerful research tool for our clients, providing them with following possibilities:
- Comparing market fluctuations in different ship sizes to determine correlations over certain periods.
- Tracking of actual time charter rates for various sizes of ships as well as portraying their respective moving averages.
- HARPEX is used by Refinitiv (ex Reuters), Macrobond and Haver as well as various analysts as market reference. Moreover, the HARPEX can be found in publications by the FED of Dallas, the OECD, and EUROSTAT.
If you have any questions about our HARPEX index or the data used, please do not hesitate to contact us at administration. @harperpetersen.com

Arne Corleis
Managing Director
+49 40 3611110-21
+49 172 439 4616
arne.corleis@harperpetersen.com
containers @harperpetersen.com

Hui Hu
Managing Director Asia
+86 21 6335 2323
+86 186 2106 8899
containers@harperpetersen.com

Nick Hennies
Managing Director Singapore
+65 8123 5171
containers@harperpetersen.com

Alex Wang
Chartering
+86 21 6335 2323
+86 159 21826635
containers@harperpetersen.com

Marian Gerhardt
Chartering
+49 40 3611110-22
+49 172 8939435
containers@harperpetersen.com

Sebastian Gelübcke
Chartering
+49 40 3611110-23
+49 172 4559890
containers@harperpetersen.com

Ludwig Roelfs
Chartering
+49 40 3611110-24
+49 151 14457620
containers@harperpetersen.com

Theodor Pauli
Chartering Assistant
+49 40 3611110-18
+49 151 1455 7666
containers@harperpetersen.com

Dirk Gauer
Operations
+49 40 3611110-30
+49 171 8908103
operations@harperpetersen.com

Tanja Mengershausen
Post Fixture

Tanzie Li
Post Fixture
+86 21 6335 2323
+86 137 9526 7757
postfixture@harperpetersen.com

Shi Ying Lee
Post Fixture
+65 9631 1067
postfixture@harperpetersen.com

Gladwin Giam
Research
+49 40 3611110-71
containers@harperpetersen.com