MSC extends its dominance, but ...

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Companyextended its dominance in February, with its fleet capacity surpassing 7.2 million TEU , equivalent to approximately 21.4 percent of the entire global container ship fleet.

The Geneva-based group now operates 980 vessels in active service, of which 727 ships totaling 4.55 million TEU are owned outright and 253 ships accounting for 2.65 million TEU are chartered. A further 2.18 million TEU remains on order, one of the highest orderbook-to-fleet ratios among the top ten carriers.

Despite this scale, MSC’s fleet is among the oldest operated by any major carrier, with an average vessel age approaching 17 years. This contrasts sharply with Evergreen, which runs the youngest fleet among the top 20 carriers at an average age of 9.3 years across nearly 240 ships totaling close to 2 million TEU. Wan Hai Lines ranks second at 9.4 years and HMMthird at 9.6 years, having recently crossed the 1 million TEU capacity milestone.