The latest container freight figures were a bit of a surprise. That is, container freight prices had already risen strongly compared to early autumn, but the Drewry container freight index released yesterday had made a big jump upwards on a weekly basis:
08 Jan 2026: Drewry’s World Container Index increased 16% to $2,557 per 40ft container this week
This $2,557 level is indeed very good and means good Q1 results for liner shipping companies at this rate.
However, container freight rates are projected to decline in 2026. Of course, forecasts change rapidly these days.
We expect container shipping performance to weaken in 2026 as lower freight rates resulting from weakened supply-demand balance will lead to lower profits in 2026. Tanker shipping should continue to perform well, particularly for crude tankers, due to growth in end demand and tonne-miles. The bulk tanker segment is likely to have weak but stable fundamentals year on year. We expect performance across other segments, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping and car carriers, to remain broadly stable.
Sinokor has been highly active in the VLCC market over the Christmas period and the start of the year:
13x VLCC from George Prokopiou/Dynacom
8x VLCC from $Frontline
8x VLCC from $CMBT
2x VLCC from George Economou/Cardiff
2x VLCC from Marinakis/Capital
2x VLCC from Advantage
And now today, a rumor emerged from Pareto that 6x could be coming from INSW, with Sinokor snapping up all possible available charters and buying a lot of FFA futures.
Let’s circle back to this for a moment, as I didn’t notice the message earlier.
Indeed, Zim is “net cash” in terms of its “traditional debt situation.” It has about $2.5bn–$3bn in net cash (distributed between cash, short-term deposits, and slightly longer-term deposits). The company has no traditional “debt” at all. All the loans visible in the accounting are leases, which are deducted in the income statement primarily through D&A, but the cash flow statement shows more clearly that in a single quarter, Zim pays $400–$500m/q for its leases.
120 tankers have been needed for Venezuelan oil transport. These are, at least in part, a shadow fleet. Even if more Venezuelan oil is shipped to the nearby USA in the future, freight on approved vessels is unlikely to decrease; however, oil will apparently continue to travel further and hopefully according to Western standards. Russian diesel shipments to Venezuela will likely be replaced by Western vessels from the USA. This will be quite a big change overall.
Sinokor will likely replace the shadow fleet that has been involved in Chinese oil freight.