About us
WHAT WE DO
HARPER PETERSEN offers a wide range of shipbroking and commercial chartering services of container vessels of all different sizes. We are located in Hamburg, Germany, with branch offices in Shanghai, The Netherlands and Singapore.
HARPER PETERSEN was founded in 1943 in the UK, and in the 1980's went on to become one of the leading chartering agents for P & O Containers, Nedlloyd, Safmarine, United Arab Shipping, CSAV, CP Ships group, Crowley and Harrisons.
In 2003 Hamburg based ER Schifffahrt and Rickmers Reederei became joint shareholders of HARPER PETERSEN and assumed full ownership in 2004.
In September 2004 a subsidiary company, Eight Dragons Ship Brokers Ltd, was founded in Hong Kong together with a representative office in Shanghai in order to expand business in Asia. This company was renamed Harper Petersen & Co. (Asia) Ltd. in August 2007 in order to give a common brand to our business activities worldwide.
CONTCHART was founded in 2012 by Thien & Heyenga. In autumn 2012, MPC Münchmeyer Petersen Steamship, Ahrenkiel Shipmanagement and GB Shipping & Chartering became new partners of the joint venture.
In 2015 HARPER PETERSEN started a bulk desk with the focus to look exclusively after the bulk carriers of its shareholders and in 2016 the company expanded its business activities in Asia by establishing Harper Petersen & Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore.
In 2016 CONTCHART became a fully owned subsidiary of MPC Capital. End of 2018 CONTCHART opened branch offices in the Netherlands and Singapore.
In 2018, HARPER PETERSEN was sold to Bremen-based Zeaborn Group, which in 2019 joined forces with MPC Capital, merging their activities in shipbroking, chartering and commercial management in a newly found joint venture and under the traditional shipbroker brand HARPER PETERSEN.
In 2023, the MPC Group acquired all remaining shares of Harper Petersen & Co. from Zeaborn, converting Harper Petersen & Co. into a 100% MPC-owned subsidiary.
In 2024, the MPC Group added the tank, bulk and sale & purchase activities of Albis Shipping to Harper Petersen, thereby forming a very diversified broking house.
Philosophy
HOW WE WORK
The joint venture between CONTCHART and HARPER PETERSEN was formed to gain a wider commercial presence in the fast changing and challenging world of today’s shipping industry. By bringing together the competence and experience of the Zeaborn and MPC groups and their dedicated staff, HARPER PETERSEN was able to strengthen its global market presence and to further enhance the efficiency of its working processes. The diverse fleet of vessels represented enables HARPER PETERSEN to offer its clients a quality-oriented, personalized and independent service. It is our vision to be your first class partner with a deep market insight and an overall coverage who conducts a close personal and reliable network within the maritime industry.
Service
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 data accumulated since 2001, adjusted in 2011 and 2017 in response to clients and users. The Charter Rates are assessed weekly for 6-12 months fixture periods 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 | |
06-Sep-2024 | 1,981 | 9,750 | 15,000 | 21,000 | 29,000 | 30,000 | 33,000 | 40,000 | 46,000 | 62,000 | 72,000 |
30-Aug-2024 | 1,981 | 9,750 | 15,000 | 21,000 | 29,000 | 30,000 | 33,000 | 40,000 | 46,000 | 62,000 | 72,000 |
23-Aug-2024 | 1,981 | 9,750 | 15,000 | 21,000 | 29,000 | 30,000 | 33,000 | 40,000 | 46,000 | 62,000 | 72,000 |
16-Aug-2024 | 1,982 | 10,000 | 15,000 | 21,000 | 29,000 | 30,000 | 33,000 | 40,000 | 46,000 | 62,000 | 72,000 |
The full HARPEX Series is available by subscription. For further information, please contact us under: research@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:
- Tracking the actual time charter rates for a particular size of ship over various periods.
- 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 research. @harperpetersen.com
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CHARTERING
Chartering is responsible for maintaining and advancing good working relationship with all market participants such as owners, charterers and brokers, identifying market trends and opportunities, aligning ships and suitable requirements on the charter market, negotiating and concluding the charter contracts after a thorough market research and analysis, marketing the fleet and securing best possible fleet employment under both short and long-term contracts.
OPERATIONS
Operations is responsible for the day-to-day operational business: maintaining the communication between Owners & Charterers during and after any charter, instructions to vessel's command related to employment, coordination of delivery & re-delivery from charterers, the coordination of vessel repair/ maintenance with charterers and technical managers, the phase out/in before and after off-hire with charterers and the handling of claims, casualty coordination, complaints and disputes (e.g. vessel performance).
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MARINE ACCOUNTING
Marine accounting is responsible for all accounting matters in relation to a charter party: Invoicing of hire and further services to the charterers in the name of the owner according to the underlying charter party terms. The service includes issuance and posting of hire statements, bunker settlements and charterers' expenses, monitoring of incoming payments and dunning process as well as the registration and posting of owners expenses.
FUTURE FUELS AND COMPLIANCE
Future Fuels & Compliance is responsible for supporting our customers on the decarbonisation of their vessel operations. The groupwide Marine Decarbonisation Team develops solutions for lowering a vessels carbon footprint in order to comply with regulations or even to be able to offer advanced services by means of green transport capacity. We follow a holistic approach considering efficiency improvements, choice of fuel with its impact on emissions and continuously engage with relevant stakeholders.
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Arne Corleis
MANAGING DIRECTOR
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-21
Mobile: +49 172 439 4616
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John Freydag
MANAGING DIRECTOR
E-Mail: management @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-12
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Hu Hui
MANAGING DIRECTOR ASIA
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone: +86 21 6335 2323
Mobile: +86 186 2106 8899
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Patricia Schütt
MANAGEMENT & TEAM ASSISTANT
E-Mail: administration @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-19
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Arne Corleis
MANAGING DIRECTOR
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-21
Mobile: +49 172 439 4616
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Hu Hui
MANAGING DIRECTOR ASIA
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone: +86 21 6335 2323
Mobile: +86 186 2106 8899
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Sebastian Gelübcke
CHARTERING
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-23
Mobile: +49 172 4559890
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Marian Gerhardt
CHARTERING
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-22
Mobile: +49 172 8939 435
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Nick Hennies
MANAGING DIRECTOR SINGAPORE
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
E-Mail 2: drycargo @harperpetersen.com
Mobile: +65 8123 5171
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Tanja Mengershausen
Chartering Assistant / Post Fixture
E-Mail: documentation @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-26
Mobile: +49 152 0151 1087
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Tanzie Li
Post Fixture
E-Mail: postfixing @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +86 21 63 35 23 23
Mobile: +86 137 9526 77 57
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Alex Wang
CHARTERING
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone: +86 21 63 35 23 23
Mobile: +86 159 2182 6635
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Ludwig Roelfs
chartering assistant
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-24
Mobile: +49 151 1455 7620
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Theodor Pauli
Chartering Assistant / Post Fixture-Operator
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-18
Mobile: +49 151 1455 7666
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Gladwin Giam
Chartering Assistant
E-Mail: containers @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-71
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Dirk Gauer
TEAMLEADER OPERATIONS
E-Mail: operations @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-30
Mobile: +49 171 8908103
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Axel Ahrens
MARINE ACCOUNTING
E-Mail: accounting @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-45
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Jan-Peter Schwitzer
MARINE ACCOUNTING
E-Mail: accounting @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-46
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Conny-Chantal Thode
MARINE ACCOUNTING
E-Mail: accounting @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-44
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Christian Müller
FINANCE & CONTROLLING
E-Mail: finance @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-50
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Katrin Fett
FINANCE & CONTROLLING
E-Mail: finance @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-51
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Arno Grünefeld
FINANCE & CONTROLLING
E-Mail: finance @harperpetersen.com
Telephone direct: +49 40 3611110-53