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Mediterranean Shipping Company and ZIM Line are the fastest growing among liner operators, according to the latest Alphaliner report as of July 26
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The world’s top ocean carrier MSC has now surpassed the six million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) mark through aggressive newbuilding orders
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ZIM Line’s fleet has grown close to 18% from 2023 to 734,079 TEU
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and ZIM Line are the fastest-growing among liner shipping operators, according to the latest Alphaliner data as of July 26, 2024.
MSC, the world’s top ocean carrier in terms of capacity, has now exceeded the six million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) mark as a result of aggressive newbuilding orders, along with recent purchases of second-hand vessels.
The Swiss-Italian company’s latest new vessel is the 16,616-TEU MSC Juliette, delivered by Guangzhou Shipyard International on July 18. It became the 17th largest Post-Panamax addition to MSC’s fleet in 2024.
The Aponte family-owned company also received two pre-owned vessels recently, the 1999-built MSC Unity and the 2003-built MSC Bay IV.
ZIM Line, meanwhile, added more ships to its fleet on long-term charter, enabling the Haifa, Israel firm to rise to ninth spot, overtaking Taiwan’s Yang Ming, which slipped to 10th place.
ZIM’s fleet has now grown close to 18% from 2023, to 734,079 TEU.
ZIM has received three 15,250 TEU ships, seven 7,800 to 7,900 TEU vessels, and eight 5,300 to 5,500 TEU ships so far this year, with a large number assigned to the Transpacific lane.
“Like all carriers that rapidly expanded their fleet with large mainline newbuildings, ZIM is indirectly profiting from the Asia-Europe service re-routings via the Cape of Good Hope, since these diversions helped absorb the newbuilding wave,” stated Alphaliner.
“All the fresh tonnage also allowed the Haifa-based carrier to expand its Transpacific footprint. Currently, 48% of ZIM’s fleet is trading between Asia and North America,” Alphaliner added.
Maersk, which was previously the top-ranked carrier, is now in second place. Their fleet currently stands at 4.37 million TEUs.
Maersk is actively trying to recover its lead by ordering new ships, including methanol-fueled and LNG-fueled vessels.
French carrier CMA CGM is set to match MSC’s orderbook with newbuilding orders totaling 1.2 million TEUs.
Earlier this month, CMA CGM booked a dozen 15,500 TEU LNG-fueled vessels with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho.
CMA CGM’s fleet now stands at 3.78 million TEU.
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