The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has made history by becoming the first shipping line ever to reach a fleet capacity of seven million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), according to Alphaliner.

This milestone was achieved after the delivery of two new 16,000 TEU Neo-Panamax ships, named MSC SALERNO from DSIC and MSC GRACE from YZJ, which helped the Swiss shipping company surpass this significant mark.

Fast Growth

What makes this achievement special is the speed at which MSC has grown. The largest shipping line in the world expanded its fleet from six to seven million TEU in just 15 months. This growth was mainly due to new ships being built, which added about 799,000 TEU through 68 deliveries. This approach is different from the earlier strategy of buying second-hand vessels that helped them reach six million TEU.

Alphaliner notes that after hitting the six million TEU milestone, MSC focused on acquiring more Neo-Panamax ships, bringing in 33 vessels in the 14,000 and 16,000 TEU categories, while notably not adding any Megamax ships during this time.

According to Alphaliner, MSC's fleet growth relied on three main strategies. The company chartered more than 50 ships in the last 15 months, with about 25 vessels adding around 135,000 TEU under newly signed charters. Additionally, acquiring second-hand ships contributed significantly, with sales to MSC or its related firms accounting for over 250,000 TEU during this period.

Growing Market Share

MSC's market share has now reached 21.2%, significantly surpassing Maersk, which holds a 13.9% market share (4.6 million TEUs). MSC took the lead over Maersk as the world’s top container shipping operator in early 2022 and has continued to widen this gap while Maersk focuses on growing its non-shipping operations to become a complete logistics provider.