3 July 2024 (Lloyd's List) - WITH its fleet swelling faster than any rival, Mediterranean Shipping Co now commands 20% of the global containership market after an aggressive expansionist push.
According to the latest data from Alphaliner, the Aponte family-controlled line operates an active fleet of 5,979,659 teu, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s total.
"Fueled by a massive newbuilding program, countless second-hand acquisitions, and - to a lesser degree - chartering, the shipping line’s fleet has grown faster than that of any other carrier," said the consultancy in a report.
This year, MSC also scrapped 14,000 teu of old tonnage, although dwarfed by the 324,000 teu in added capacity from 28 newbuilding deliveries.
Lloyd’s List reported in April that the Geneva-based carrier had purchased some 65 secondhand containerships since January 2023.
Alphaliner revealed these included assets previously owned by Maersk, which has shifted its strategic focus to integrating logistics services and developing new fuels.
"As far as the carrier’s 20% market share is concerned, it is somewhat ironic that it was a former Maersk vessel that pushed MSC over the line."
It said the recently delivered MSC Nicole X (IMO: 9214898), formerly known as A.P. Moller, was built in 2000 as an 8,200 teu ship by Odense Shipyard, then expanded to 9,600 teu in China in 2011.
The vessel is the most recent of ten Odense-built units acquired by MSC in the past years.
Alphaliner outlined the accelerated fleet growth of the company, founded in 1970.
It took about 37 years to reach 1m teu, less than 5 years to hit 2m teu, and another 10 years to surpass 4m teu in July 2021. Crossing 5m teu took less than 2 years after that, and the 6m milestone is expected to be achieved by the end of this month.
By the time Maersk dissolves the 2M alliance and joins Hapag-Lloyd to start Gemini operations in February 2025, MSC’s fleet and market share are forecasted to increase further, equalling that of its two competitors combined.
"This massive scale will enable MSC to be a standalone carrier in a world dominated by alliances," said Alphaliner.
Also, its data shows that CMA CGM is another aggressive expansionist.
Although it currently ranks third globally behind Maersk based on the active fleet, incorporating the orderbook into the calculation would reverse this ranking, with the French carrier moving ahead.
CMA CGM currently has 83 ships on order with a combined capacity of over 1m teu, just slightly under MSC's 1.2m teu. In contrast, the Danish giant only has 31 ships totaling 397,478 teu
