MSC has reached another milestone, with an operated fleet of 900 boxships, according to Alphaliner’s report, comprising 609-owned and 292-chartered vessels.

Alphaliner noted that the Geneva-based company has become the first global container line to reach such a fleet. With 132 vessels on firm order, MSC could be closing in on the 1,000-ship mark in the coming years.

The MSC’s groupwide fleet also comprises ships of the Aponte family-controlled carriers Medlog, Log-In Logistica, and WEC Lines.

In this context, Alphaliner also counts tonnage under ‘quasi-owned‘ setups, such as long-term bare boat charters with a purchase obligation, or similar arrangements as ‘owned’, when the ships are managed in-house by MSC.

MSC Group’s total fleet now stands at around 6.47 million TEUs, almost 1 million TEU more than the second-ranked carrier Maersk Line, which the Swiss operator dethroned atop the liner rankings in 2022.

It was the delivery of the LNG-powered MSC Germany, built by China’s Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, that pushed the MSC to the mark of 900 ships. The 16,000 TEU container vessel is the fifth unit in a series of 12 sister ships that the MSC ordered from the Chinese yard in October 2022.

Last June, MSC’s rapid expansion, consisting of newbuilding orders, secondhand purchases and chartering, pushed the carrier’s fleet capacity over the 6 million TEU mark, reaching a 20% market share for the first time in its 52-year history. Today, MSC’s market share stands at 20.3%.

Last week, MSC continued its acquisition spree with three more ships joining the fleet, two 8,800 TEU boxships from Northern Shipping Holding and one 1,580 TEU vessel from Welton Shipping. Since 2020, MSC has acquired 444 ships of 1.72 million TEUs.

Alphaliner said: “The Swiss-Italian shipping line’s fleet has grown faster than that of any other carrier. In November, MSC’s post-pandemic vessel buying spree hit the mark of 400 second-hand container ship acquisitions, which is unprecedented in shipping history in terms of scale.”

Alison Koo

Asia Correspondent