MSC and ZIM Line are the fastest-growing mainline operators, according to the latest Alphaliner’s report.

MSC’s fleet has now crossed the 6 million TEU mark, thanks to aggressive newbuilding orders and recent purchases of second-hand, albeit elderly vessels.

The Swiss-Italian operator’s latest newbuilding is the 16,616 TEU MSC Juliette, which Guangzhou Shipyard International delivered on 18 July, making it the 17th large Post-Panamax addition to MSC’s fleet this year.

Last week, the Aponte family-owned MSC took delivery of two pre-owned vessels, the 1999-built MSC Unity VI and the 2003-built MSC Bay IV.

ZIM’s unrelenting commitment to taking more ships on long-term charter enabled the Israeli carrier to overtake Taiwan’s Yang Ming in the rankings, putting it in the ninth spot, while Yang Ming dropped to the 10th. ZIM’s fleet has grown nearly 18% from last year, to 728,011 TEU.

Source: Alphaliner

Year to date, ZIM has taken delivery of three 15,250 TEU ships, seven 7,800-7,900 TEU ships and eight 5,300-5,500 TEU ships. Many of the vessels have been assigned to the transpacific lane.

Alphaliner remarked, “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. 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.”

Meanwhile, Maersk Line, which was dethroned atop the rankings by MSC in 2022, is set to be relegated to the third place as French carrier CMA CGM matches the market leader’s orderbook.

Both MSC and CMA CGM each have newbuilding orders of 1.2 million TEUs, with the Marseille-based carrier booking a dozen 15,500 TEU LNG-fuelled vessels at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho on 15 July. CMA CGM’s current fleet stands at 3.75 million TEU.

Maersk now has a fleet of 4.34 million TEUs but appears to be trying to recover lost ground. The Danish carrier still has 14 methanol-fuelled 16,000 TEU ships on order at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and has reportedly asked for quotations from shipyards to build a dozen LNG-fuelled 16,000 TEU ships.

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