Christoph Toepfer has no doubt that the timing was right for the $233.9m sale of a dozen container vessels.

Waiting a little longer may have caught part of the continuing rise in the boxship markets, but it would have risked a drop in liquidity in the sale and purchase market.

“We’re quite optimistic for this market, but at some stage it will end," said Toepfer, who is founder and chief executive of London-based Borealis Maritime.