Mediterranean Shipping Company has passed the seven-million-TEU mark, new data from ocean freight cargo aggregator Alphaliner shows.
The liner now operates vessels with a combined capacity of 7 002 757 TEUs, alongside an order book exceeding two million TEUs.
The growth takes the Swiss line’s existing fleet to a capacity exceeding that of the Gemini Cooperation, comprising Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, formed when the latter left the 2M vessel-sharing alliance with MSC at the end of February.
Excluding its order book, MSC also outstrips the Premier Alliance, which groups together Asian carriers Yang Ming, HMM and Ocean Network Express (ONE).
The latest news comes after MSC purchased the 2007-built, 3 534-TEU Newnew Star 2 from Chinese owner Hainan Yangpu Newnew Shipping.
The vessel is set to be renamed MSC Rabat IV, according to Alphaliner.
The acquisition, which is one of about 400 second-hand vessels bought by MSC in the 2020s, has taken the line’s current capacity to its latest level.
Asia Shipping Media reports that it’s unlikely that this level of capacity will be matched anytime soon.
Over the past decade, MSC has tripled in size, fuelled by an aggressive newbuild drive and a spree in the second-hand markets.
The carrier overtook Maersk in early 2022 to become the world’s largest liner by operating capacity, ending the Danish company’s 25-year reign at the top.
MSC’s expansion has also catapulted landlocked Switzerland into the global top tier of shipowning nations.
According to VesselsValue’s annual ranking of the top 10 shipowning countries by total asset value, released in January, Switzerland climbed to ninth place.
This is thanks largely to MSC’s container and related logistics business, and its cruise fleets.
