MSC - Unseated Maersk as the world’s largest shipping line by container capacity

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has unseated Maersk as the world’s largest shipping line by container capacity. The shakeup ends Maersk’s 25-year reign as the undisputed champion of cargo shipping.

This world's largest shipping company has reached an agreement with New Era Shipbuilding to build 14 LNG-powered dual-fuel neo-panamax container ships. It is reported that the total value of thenewbuildings will exceed 1.68 billion US dollars. In other words, each ship will cost $120 million and will be equipped with Type B storage tanks. It is worth mentioning that the new ship order does not include alternative orders.

It is understood that Mediterranean Shipping was established in 1970 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland in 1978. As the leader of the world's container liner companies, Mediterranean Shipping has developed from one ship to a world-renowned company that controls more than 660 ships and more than 100,000 employees.enterprise. At present, MSC has a business network of 524 officesaround the world, with a fleet covering 500 ports on 230 shippingroutes, delivering about 2,300 TEU per year.

Alphaliner recorded that MSC now owns or charters enough ships to carry the equivalent of 4,284,728 shipping containers, narrowly edging out Maersk’s total capacity of 4,282,840 containers.

Maersk aims to reinvent itself as a one-stop shop for every step of the supply chain. Meanwhile, MSC has doubled down on its strategy of building out a fleet of mega-ships that can deliver cargo at the lowest possible cost.

MSC’s dominance isn’t clear-cut. Maersk still owns more shipping capacity than MSC does. MSC makes up the difference by temporarily chartering cargo ships from other lines.

Maersk also owns and charters more ships than MSC—although that isn’t necessarily an advantage. MSC’s strategy has been to buy the biggest container ships available because they can operate more efficiently than smaller ships.

MSC's new spot atop the leaderboard for shipping capacity reflects the investments that the world's largest shipping lines are making with the billions of dollars in profits they've recorded during the pandemic.

In addition, last weekend Taiwanese shipowner Yang Ming announced that they would order five 15,000TEU-class container ships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel.