Leasing Market Expected to Keep High Leasing Fees thanks to Worldwide Highs in Container Cargoes

Leasing fees of small sized - ships will grow gradually until the end
of this year and those of medium sized - and large sized - ships are e
xpected to fall for a time in the 4th quarter of 2000.
The index of container ship lending fees rose steeply for 3 years, fro
m 1987 - 1989 and reached a high in 1996. According to the analysis of
shipping authories this contributed to vessel increases thanks to ov
erwhelming vessel investment and supply increases in the leasing marke
t due to decreases in operating vessels and new large sized vessels re
placing medium sized ships.
A declining trend in ship leasing appeared in the middle of October la
st year, and continued until early 2000. This was due to the effect of
the Christmas season and the Lunar new year, a traditional low-demand
season. A strong increasing trend however, reversed the situation beg
inning in February.
It is said that the worldwide container cargo highs, the low number of
ordered ships remaining and a lack of shipbuilding capacity could act
on the leasing market positively but might not be sustained if deman
d changes
because the recovery mood resulted from demand increases concentrated
on medium sized-ships in the East-West service trade. In order to keep
the leasing fees stable for medium sized ships, North/South Korean tr
ade must recover.