MSC successfully overtook Maersk and emerged as the world’s largest container carrier 16 months ago and continued its stream of secondhand purchases and new buildings. As a result, its fleet has continued to grow rapidly.
In the weekly newsletter, Alphaliner stated that MSC’s fleet was at 4,956,720 TEU across 753 vessels as of 16 May. The new buildings MSC Gemma and MSC Michel Cappelini, set to be delivered from the CSSC and Yangzijiang, respectively, would cross the 5 million TEU threshold before May end.
With a new building order book that comprises 127 vessels with a total capacity of about 1.66 million TEU, the six million TEU mark for the MSC fleet is not significantly over a year away.
The Alphaliner estimated that by the middle of 2024, it could reach a fleet size of 6 million TEUs, even though the exact timing depends on sales and vessel acquisitions.
Source: Sagar Sandesh
