Top-ranking carriers switch places in 2024
In January 2022, MSC took the crown from Maersk as the world's largest shipping line with a fleet of 645 units and a combined capacity of almost 4.3 million teu. While Maersk’s fleet shrank in 2023 by 112,500 teu or 2.7%, MSC added a little more than one million TEU of capacity over the same period.
In Alphaliner’s analysis, the delivery of fourteen behemoths of 24,000-teu as well as 26 neo-panamax ships - ranging in capacity from 15,250-16,500 teu, took its toll. Number three in the ranking, Marseilles-based CMA CGM extended its fleet by 5.5% in 2023 and the carrier's order book contains almost 1.2 million teu of new capacity still to come.
Also last year, Ocean Network Express (ONE) was able to regain its sixth place in the overall ranking of carriers after adding 272,500 teu to its fleet. This was the second rank in terms of new capacity gained in 2023 after the first-in-line, MSC. (cd)