3 October 2023 (Lloyd's List) - MEDITERRANEAN Shipping Co continues to extend its lead on its rival top-tier carriers, but an increasing amount of its capacity is not being used.
Figures from Linerlytica show MSC’s fleet now comprises 5.36m teu, up from 4.61m at the beginning of January.
“Newbuilding deliveries contributed 557,000 teu to the increase, with the rest coming from secondhand vessel acquisitions and new charters,” Linerlytica said.
“MSC has grown at an average rate of 83,000 teu a month, with its lead over second-placed Maersk rising to 1.24m teu.”
But at the same time, MSC has seen an increasing number of ships coming out of service either for repair, retrofitting or lay up.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence data lists 33 vessels comprising 202,000 teu that are associated with MSC, either as beneficial owner or as vessel operator, that had been idle for over five days as of the end of September.
Not yet recorded is the 23,656 teu MSC Mina (IMO: 9839260), which has been idle since September 24, and is not assigned for the rest of October, Linerlytica said.
Another MSC vessel, the recently launched 24,346 teu MSC Micol (IMO: 9931290), has left its anchorage and is en route to China, although it does not yet show a destination on Automatic Identification System.
MSC Micol was scheduled to begin her maiden voyage on October 12 in Shanghai for the AE55/Griffin service. It has, however, has been rescheduled to join this service only on January 4, 2024, according to Alphaliner.
The carrier’s MSC Hamburg (IMO: 9647461) is the largest vessel recorded by Lloyd’s List Intelligence as being inactive.
Linerlytica notes that MSC has been sending a number of ships for scrubber retrofits, but the carrier has many more than any of its rivals sitting idle under the Lloyd’s List Intelligence methodology.
Cosco, with the next largest group of idle vessels, has only 10 units comprising 15,645 teu listed as inactive.
Maersk, meanwhile, appears to be disposing of unwanted tonnage instead, and has just six units comprising 27,000 teu.
“Maersk has seen its operated fleet shrink from 4.21m teu at the beginning of the year to 4.12m teu as it continues to downsize and will relinquish its number two position by 2026 as CMA CGM tries to keep pace with MSC’s growth,” Linerlytica said.
CMA CGM last week added to its orderbook with an order for eight methanol-fuelled 9,200 teu vessels at Shanghai Waigaoqiao.
Linerlytica expects idling to increase in coming weeks as carriers launch a series of blankings, but as Lloyd’s List reported last week, the amount of tonnage in lay up remains vastly below what would be required to balance the market to lower demand levels.
