Maersk has emerged as the fastest-growing carrier on intra-Asia trade lanes, deploying more than 340,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of capacity on Asian regional routes as of mid-August - a year-over-year gain of roughly 34,000 TEU, the largest increase recorded by any shipping line in the market.
Maersk has emerged as the fastest-growing carrier on intra-Asia trade lanes, deploying more than 340,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of capacity on Asian regional routes as of mid-August - a year-over-year gain of roughly 34,000 TEU, the largest increase recorded by any shipping line in the market.
The expansion lifted Maersk past COSCO Shipping to claim the top position by deployed capacity, according to figures from analyst Alphaliner.
Maersk's regional fleet now totals 108 vessels, with an average capacity of 3,176 TEU per ship. That figure represents the largest average vessel size among major operators serving Asian regional routes, indicating a strategy built on larger, higher-capacity ships rather than a broad count of smaller vessels.
Much of the growth stems from the carrier's hub-and-spoke design under the Gemini Cooperation, its operational partnership with Hapag-Lloyd. The model uses an extensive Asian feeder network to move containers to and from the alliance's east-west trunk services, tying regional capacity directly to long-haul mainline operations. The design is central to Gemini's stated aim of improving schedule reliability across connected trades �X a priority for cargo owners weighing transit dependability against cost.
COSCO Shipping, which deploys more than 120 vessels in the region, slipped to second place. While its ship count remains higher than Maersk's, the carrier's deployed capacity held broadly flat year over year, allowing Maersk's additions to take the lead in total TEU.
The shift plays out in the world's largest container trade market. Excluding domestic services, total capacity on intra-Asian international routes stands at just under 2.6 million TEU, a year-over-year increase of 6.2%, Alphaliner data shows. More than 80 shipping companies compete across the region, underscoring a fragmented and highly contested market where capacity decisions carry direct consequences for freight rates, space availability, and service reliability.
For shippers and their logistics partners, the reshuffle at the top signals continued investment in a corridor that underpins much of Asia's manufacturing and trade flows �X and a competitive field likely to keep pressure on both pricing and service levels.
