Container

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
25-Apr-2025	2,100	10,000	15,750	26,000	30,000	34,000	35,000	41,000	53,000	64,000	72,000
18-Apr-2025	2,110	10,000	15,500	26,000	30,000	34,000	35,000	41,000	53,000	64,000	74,000
11-Apr-2025	2,106	9,500	15,250	26,000	30,000	34,000	35,000	41,000	53,000	64,000	74,000
04-Apr-2025	2,082	9,000	15,250	26,000	30,000	32,000	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 administrationnoSpam@harperpetersen.com.