TOP 10 SHIPPING COMPANIES
IN THE WORLD IN 2021
The slowdown in manufacturing and export orders
worldwide has resulted in a moderate container trade growth in 2019, while the
Covid-19 pandemic further impacted the global demand in 2020 & 2021. Ship
Technology lists the ten biggest shipping companies based on their total
twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity in 2019
Ship Technology lists the ten biggest shipping
companies based on their total twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity in
2021.
Biggest shipping companies: Top ten by TEU capacity
·
P. Moller–Maersk – 4.1m TEU
·
Mediterranean Shipping Company – 3.8m TEU
·
COSCO Shipping Lines – 3.1m TEU
·
CMA CGM Group – 2.7m TEU
·
Hapag-Lloyd – 1.7m TEU
·
Ocean Network Express – 1.5m TEU
·
Evergreen Line – 1.2m TEU
·
Orient Overseas Container Line – 733,580 TEU
·
HMM – 728,416 TEU
·
Yang Ming – 616,000 TEU
1. A.P. Moller-Maersk – 4.1m TEU
This shipping company with a total capacity of 4.1m
TEU. It operates a fleet of 708 vessels including 307 own container vessels and
401 chartered container vessels as of December 2021.
The Danish company also plans to add 11 401m-long
container ships with 19,630 TEU capacity each to its fleet by 2021. The new
ships will be the largest container vessels in the Maersk fleet. Two 18,500
TEU Triple-E vessels and
seven Baltic feeder vessels will also join the Maersk fleet.
The company operates diverse business segments,
including the ocean, logistics, terminals and towage, manufacturing, and
others. The company’s digital container logistics platform Trade Lens serves 98
directly integrated ports and terminals.
MSC has a fleet of 560 vessels carrying 21 million TEUs annually.
Mediterranean Shipping Company’s container ship fleet has a total intake capacity of 3.8m TEU. The company operates a fleet of 560 cargo vessels, carrying 21m TEUs annually.
MSC has a network of 493 offices and employs 70,000
people across 155 countries, while its fleet calls at more than 500 ports
worldwide.
The company operates a modern fleet comprising
Gulsan Class vessels, a new class of sustainable container ship, to minimise
the environmental impact. The vessel design offers the lowest carbon footprint
at 7.49gm of CO₂ emissions to move 1t of cargo to one nautical mile.
3. China Ocean Shipping
Company (COSCO) Shipping Lines – 3.1mTEU
COSCO Shipping operates 401 international and domestic shipping routes across 105 countries.
China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) Shipping
Lines, a fully owned subsidiary of China’s state-owned shipping giant COSCO
SHIPPING Holding, operates 507 container vessels with a combined capacity of
approximately 3.1m TEU.
COSCO’s fleet serves 401 international and
domestic shipping routes and
calls in 356 ports in 105 countries. The company operates a total of 235
corporate offices, including 97 domestic and 138 international offices.
COSCO SHIPPING Holding has stake in 59 terminals
worldwide, including 51 container terminals. The annual throughput of its
container terminals is approximately 126.8m TEU, making it the world’s leading
ports operator.
4. CMA CGM Group – 2.7m TEU
CMA CGM Group operates a fleet of 502 vessels with 2.7 million TEU capacity.
French container shipping company CMA CGM Group operates a fleet of 502 container vessels with a total capacity of 2.7m TEU.
The company inducted a 23,000 TEU container ship,
CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE, named after its founder, Jacques Saadé, in September
2020. It is the first of nine vessels ordered by the company. JACQUES SAADE is
the largest LNG-powered container ship in the world.
CMA CGM Group employs 110,000 people in 160
countries, and serves 420 commercial ports ensuring coverage to more than 80%
of the ports worldwide.
5. Hapag-Lloyd – 1.7m TEU
Hapag-Lloyd
operates 392 sales offices in 129 countries worldwide.
German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd operates
a fleet of 248 vessels with a combined capacity of approximately 1.7m TEU. The
company has a 7% market share of the total capacity of the global container
ship fleet.
Hapag-Lloyd has ordered 77 container ships with a
total of approximately 0.8m TEU transport capacity in 2019. The new vessels
will be able to transport various types of cargo such as oversized, and
dangerous goods.
Headquartered in Hamburg, the shipping line employs
more than 13,000 personnel, and operates 392 sales offices in 129 countries
worldwide.
ONE is the world’s sixth largest container carrier, operating a fleet of
224 vessels.
ONE was established through the liner service
integrations of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line), and
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) in July 2017.
Headquartered in Singapore, the company employs
8,000 people worldwide and offers more than 130 services each week with
coverage across 120 countries.
Evergreen received the delivery of 148 vessels with 1.06m TEU in 2019.
Evergreen Line is a group of container shipping companies comprising Evergreen Marine Corp. (Taiwan), Italia Marittima, Evergreen Marine (UK), Evergreen Marine (Hong Kong), and Evergreen Marine (Singapore).
The companies operate 333 vessels with a combined
capacity of 1.2m TEU. Evergreen has built and chartered 20 12,000 TEU F-type
vessels to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. It ordered ten
23,000 TEU and four 1,800 TEU container vessels in 2019.
Evergreen Line employs more than 6,700 personnel
and serves over 315 locations in Asia, America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia,
and Africa.
8. Orient Overseas Container Line – 733,580 TEU
The average unit size of the OOCL fleet was 8,915 TEU by the end of 2019.
OOCL is a Hong Kong-based integrated shipping company, specialized in refrigerated cargo. The OOCL fleet includes 104 vessels with a combined capacity of 733,520 TEU as of December 2019.
The average size of the OOCL fleet was 8,915 TEU,
while the average age of its vessels was 9.77 years as of December 2019.
The company had not ordered new ships in 2019.
However, it placed an order for five 23,000 TEU container ships in March 2020,
which are expected to be delivered by 2023.
OOCL is a fully integrated logistics and
containerized transportation services provider with operations across Asia,
Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Australasia.
The modern fleet of HMM features the latest smart ship solutions.
Credit: HMM.
HMM operates a fleet of 110 container vessels with
a combined capacity of 728,416 TEU. It is the biggest Korean national container
carrier. The company has three container terminals.
The company is inducting a modern fleet of 12
24,000 TEU and eight 16,000 TEU container vessels equipped
with the latest smart ship solutions. Delivered between April and September
2020, the 24,000 TEU vessels are the largest container ships in the world. The
16,000 TEU vessels will enter service in 2021.
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, HMM is a
global shipping and logistics company with more than 60 sea routes and 100
ports. It is one of the top five carriers operational in the trans-Pacific
trade route.
10. Yang Ming Marine Transport
Corporation (Yang Ming) – 616,000 TEU
Yang Ming operates a fleet of 95 vessels.
Taiwanese container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport operates a fleet of 95 vessels with a combined capacity of 616,000 TEU.
The company started fleet optimisation by the
addition of 14 11,000 TEU chartered vessels and 10 2,800 TEU self-owned newly
built vessels in 2020. The new fleet with improved engine efficiency will
improve the competitiveness of the company in the long-term.
Yang Ming provides container transportation and
bulk transportation services as well as terminal and logistics services. It
offers scheduled container transportation services across Asia, Europe,
America, and Australia.
