According to the latest news on May 27, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) became the world's first liner company whose fleet capacity officially exceeded 5 million TEU.
According to the latest data from Alphaliner, among the world's top 100 liner companies in shipping capacity, MSC ranks first, operating 756 container ships with a total shipping capacity of 5,011,099 TEU, accounting for 18.7% of the world's total shipping capacity.Among them, there are 462 self-owned ships and 294 chartered ships.In addition, Mediterranean Shipping also holds 125 new shipbuilding orders totaling 1,612,561TEU.
According to follow-up reports, unlike other liner companies that have expanded their scale through mergers and acquisitions, Mediterranean Shipping relies entirely on its own continuous expansion and development.The capacity of Mediterranean Shipping has expanded from 1 million TEU in 2007 to 2 million TEU in 2011, 3 million TEU in 2017, and 4 million TEU in 2021.On January 6, 2022, MSC officially surpassed Maersk to become the world's largest liner company, operating 645 container ships with a total capacity of 4,284,728TEU, accounting for 17.0% of the global market share.
According to the shipping industry network, MSC may also be the most profitable shipping company in 2022.On the one hand, after the new crown epidemic, the container shipping market was brought about by the structural supply and demand mismatch. The super cycle of container shipping has led to a boom in the market, and record freight rates have boosted its profitability. The industry is generally positive, pushing up its family assets and wealth soaring.On the other hand, Mediterranean Shipping is obviously more inclined to the strategy of independent operation, and insists on betting its future on expanding the size of the fleet and gaining market share.The keen MSC has moved quickly, expanding its container fleet with incredible determination.
Not only continue to order new ships, but also continue to scan the second-hand ship market.According to statistics, since August 2020, MSC has purchased more than 306 ships from the second-hand ship market, with a capacity of 1.2 million TEU.This is an event unprecedented and unprecedented in the history of shipping.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Alphaliner pointed out that 5 million TEU is not the ultimate goal of MSC, and it is expected that MSC will be able to further increase its capacity to 6 million TEU in mid-2024 only relying on its huge order book.
If MSC continues to stick to its strategy of operating ships as economically as possible, its capacity may even reach 6.75 million TEU by 2025.However, Alphaliner said MSC would likely keep its capacity "steady at around 6 million TEU".
“It’s about competitiveness and costs, and we need to make sure we’re not just the biggest company, but the most competitive company,” MSC CEO Søren Toft said recently.
He stressed that MSC was not carried away.MSC also of course expects the supply chain and the freight market to normalize sooner or later.MSC will use its largest fleet and orders in the world to provide "the most comprehensive route network in the market", and strive to continuously improve the resilience and reliability of the supply chain to ensure that it can become a long-term partner of customers.
Release time: 2023-05-29