When demand to transport cargo weakens, short-term rental rates decline for the ships that carry that cargo. When freight demand rises, lease rates rise. You can see this now in spot rates for supertankers moving crude oil from the Middle East and large bulkers moving iron ore to China (weak demand, low rates) and for product carriers moving diesel, gasoline and jet fuel (high demand, high spot rates).
You can’t see it in container shipping, though. At least, not yet.
The container freight market...