The 1,700 TEU containership segment posted a 26.6% year-on-year rate increase in August, hitting US$33,877 per day and outpacing every other size class in the New ConTex index.

The September 2026 DynaLiners Monthly showed month-on-month gains across all eight vessel categories while the annual picture split sharply between mid-sized tonnage and larger boxships.

The 1,700 TEU benchmark rose from US$33,025 in July and US$26,760 in August 2025. The 2,500 TEU assessment reached US$37,227 per day, up 6.9% from US$34,840 a year earlier. The 2,700 TEU category climbed to US$40,052, 9.3% above its August 2025 level. The 4,250 TEU segment held at US$58,825, a 12.5% annual jump.

Larger tonnage told a different story. Both the 5,700 TEU and 6,500 TEU assessments settled at US$58,825 per day, with the 5,700 TEU down 2.5% year on year and the 6,500 TEU down 10.4% from US$65,678 in August 2025.

What did the August fixture tape show?

Rate moves tracked a busy stretch for carrier tonnage procurement.

Hapag-Lloyd extended the 15,400 TEU Atlanta Express, built in 2014, for 84 months at a reported US$49,000 per day. The Hamburg line also extended the 3,700 TEU Osaka for 35 to 37 months at US$37,000 per day, and the 1,900 TEU Cape Bruno for 36 months at US$21,000 per day.

Maersk was equally active in mid-sized tonnage. The Danish operator fixed the 4,400 TEU BF Giant for 36 months at US$35,000 per day, the 4,300 TEU Navios Domino for 36 months at US$35,000 per day, and the 4,300 TEU Ren Jian 10 for 24 months at US$44,500 per day.

Further down the size ladder, Maersk extended the 3,800 TEU Brickell at US$30,000 per day for 32 to 34 months and the 3,400 TEU Haian Gama at US$34,500 per day for 24 months.

The fixtures confirm what the New ConTex already implied. Carriers paid up to lock in mid-sized tonnage on multi-year terms, even as daily rates on the largest segments softened from prior-year levels.

What does the divergence mean for shippers?

For liner operators, the data sketches a two-tier market. Feeder and intra-regional tonnage — the workhorses of services into West Africa, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and select Asia–Middle East trades — is commanding premium money, as both Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk extended capacity at US$30,000–US$44,500 per day on two- to three-year deals.

For shippers and forwarders reliant on those lanes, sustained charter strength typically feeds through to ocean freight rates within two to three quarters, as carriers rebuild yields on contracted volume.

The Harpex, the Hamburg-based charter index built from a basket of containership time-charter assessments, averaged 2,371 points in August, up from 2,337 in July and 2,196 a year earlier. Its latest reading hit 2,447, the 2026 high so far.

The BOX Index, a competing short-term charter benchmark, moved in tandem. It averaged 305.1 points in August versus 265.6 a year earlier. The latest BOX reading of 315.6 matched its 2026 peak.

Both indices confirm that spot and short-period charter demand kept grinding higher into late summer, even where year-on-year gains on the largest ship sizes had unwound.

Can the trend hold into Q4?

The September edition does not yet reveal whether September assessments will extend the monthly pattern, but the combination of long-term fixture activity from Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd — covering vessels from 1,900 TEU up to 15,400 TEU — signals carriers still willing to commit capital to tonnage security ahead of the traditionally strong fourth-quarter demand window.

With BOX and Harpex both printing 2026 highs in the latest readings, the trajectory heading into Q4 will hinge on whether transpacific and Asia–Europe spot demand firms enough to absorb scheduled fleet additions over the next twelve months.