China economic slump means container ships are cheaper to hire than some wedding marquees

China's slowdown has caused the day-rates of container ships to crash

A container ship sails towards Colombo Harbour as the sun sets in Colombo, Sri Lanka

China’s economic slowdown has resulted in an unexpected development.

It is now cheaper to rent one of these...:

Onlookers watch from a harbour wall as the largest container ship in world, CSCL Globe, docks during its maiden voyage, at the port of Felixstowe in south east England (Reuters)

...than one of these:

(David Higgs/Flickr)

The cost of hiring a Capesize class container ship, which are too big to travel through the Panama or Suez canals, has fallen 92 per cent since last summer, according to Bloomberg.

It now costs $1,563 (£1,100) to use one of the ships for a day, not counting fuel costs. In August 2015, the day rate was $20,000.

In contrast, a 50-person wedding marquee, with tables, chairs, dance floor and PA system costs £1,183 ($1,687), according to marqueehire.co.uk.

Capesize class ships are mainly used to carry raw materials, such as coal and iron ore - typically to ports in China as the country underwent a period of huge and unprecedented economic slowdown.

The price of renting a type of marquee online. (marqueehire.co.uk)

The economic slowdown in China accompanies a fall in global oil prices, in anticipation of Iran flooding the global oil supply - which is already in surplus - with even more cheap oil. This week it became cheaper to buy a barrel's worth of oil than the barrel it comes in.