Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has achieved an unprecedented milestone by expanding its fleet, with its current capacity and orders now comfortably exceeding 10 million TEU. This amount is nearly equal to the total capacity of the global shipping industry 20 years ago.
Fleet and Orders Details
According to Alphaliner data, MSC's operational fleet is approximately 7.4 million TEU, accounting for 21.5 percent of the global shipping capacity. Additionally, the company's new shipbuilding orders amount to about 2.94 million TEU. Last week, MSC ordered six new LNG-powered ships of 21,700 TEU each from the Zhoushan Changhong shipyard, adding 130,200 TEU to the total capacity of the company's fleet and orders, bringing it to about 10.47 million TEU.
Read more: Reduction of Fuel Smuggling in Hormozgan with Judiciary Actions
Major Investments and Historical Comparison
These six ships, each costing about 235 million dollars, represent a total new investment of over 1.4 billion dollars. These vessels have been added to the series designed by CIMC ORIC at this Chinese shipyard, increasing their number from 24 to 30 ships. According to Alphaliner data, the total global shipping fleet reached 10 million TEU in August 2006 and hit 10.467 million TEU on January 1, 2007.
During this period, MSC had only reached 1 million TEU and was in a weak position compared to its competitors, such as Maersk, which had 1.76 million TEU at that time. This indicates MSC's astonishing growth since the pandemic, which reached 7 million TEU last November. The company has single-handedly made Switzerland one of the top 10 ship-owning countries of the decade.
Currently, the global fleet of container ships has a capacity of about 34.4 million TEU, meaning that the combination of MSC's current fleet and orders constitutes over 30 percent of the total size of the fleet in operation today. However, this does not mean that MSC will simultaneously operate 10.5 million TEU, as older ships will soon be retired, and fleet plans will be adjusted accordingly with the delivery of new ships.
Read more: Seyed Mohammad Taghi Raees Al-Sadat: Maritime and Aerial Sanctions Against Iran Have Global Impacts · Iran Chamber Energy Commission Emphasizes the Need for Energy Policy Change
