MSC expands its fleet capacity to over 7.2 million TEU, solidifying its position as the world's largest container carrier with 21.4% market share.
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has expanded its containership capacity beyond 7.2 million TEU, strengthening its lead as the world's largest carrier with 21.4 percent of the global fleet, reports Ventura, California's gCaptain.
Geneva-based MSC now operates 980 vessels, nearing the 1,000-ship mark. Of these, 727 ships representing 4.55 million TEU are owned, while 253 vessels totaling 2.65 million TEU are chartered, according to Alphaliner.
The carrier also holds an orderbook of 2.18 million TEU, ranking fourth among the top 10 carriers in orderbook-to-fleet ratio. MSC overtook AP Moller-Maersk in January 2022, when its fleet edged ahead by 1,888 TEU.
MSC widened the gap in 2024, becoming the first carrier to reach a 20 percent market share. Maersk, which pioneered container shipping from 1975, has focused on carbon-neutral vessels as part of its decarbonization strategy.
Despite losing the capacity crown, Maersk retains an advantage in vessel ownership, with only 42 percent of its fleet chartered compared with MSC's 65 percent. MSC has been led since 2020 by Soren Toft, formerly a senior executive at Maersk.
The industry has seen sharp changes since the pandemic, when demand for consumer goods drove freight rates up 81 percent in 2021, measured by the Shanghai containerized freight index.
