Diego Aponte’s Mediterranean Shipping Company is set for the largest newbuilding influx among leading container lines this year, according to data from Alphaliner.
MSC is expecting delivery of 20 new ships in 2019, well ahead of rivals Maersk Line, and CMA CGM.
Chinese giant Cosco Shipping has the second largest orderbook in the market this year, with Evergreen Marine third in the rankings, the container shipping research specialist says.
MSC’s 2019 haul of well over 300,000-teu in fresh capacity includes the first three ships in the “megamax” series.
Alphaliner explained these 23,000-teu behemoths, part of an eventual 11-vessel sequence, will be the largest containerships on the water.
Cosco’s 12 ships set to hit the water this year have a combined capacity of 180,970-teu, Alphaliner says, with most arriving in the first half of the year.
The most notable vessels are a string of six 19,200 to 21,200-teu ships, which will boost Cosco’s fleet of vessels above 18,000-teu on the water to 28, Alphaliner researchers said.
Evergreen’s 2019 newbuildings will also be in double figures, the report said. The figure includes six vessels of 20,388-teu from Imabari.
Maersk Line, which has sworn off major additions to its orderbook, has just six new vessels penciled in for delivery this year. Alphaliner put the market leader's total at just 73,606-teu in total.
Among the world’s top 12 carriers a total of four companies - Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, Zim and Wan Hai - will not take in a single newbuilding during 2019.
