May 16, 2023
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MSC, the world’s largest maritime container transporter, has added a new 24,000+ TEU mega-ship, the MSC Celestino Maresca, to its fleet.
Other shipping companies such as OOCL, ONE and Hapag-Lloyd are expected to receive ships of a similar size in the coming months on routes between Asia and Europe.
Unfortunately, this coincides with a decrease in freight rates that have returned to pre-pandemic levels, causing MSC to place nearly 100,000 TEUs of their capacity on hold. Maersk is also forced to lay up 29 containerships equivalent to 281,400 TEUs of their 4.2 million TEU fleet.
According to Alphaliner’s report, there are 300 vessels with over 500 TEUs out of service worldwide – which equals roughly 1.6 million TEUs or 6%. This number decreased slightly recently due to the Chinese New Year holidays.
Looking ahead into 2023 and 2024, there will be 31 large container vessels with capacities of up to 24,000 TEUs entering service – 14 for MSC and 19 for other carriers – along with 12 Ultra Large Container ships for Hapag Lloyd and 6 for ONE.
Reference: Port Technology, Shipping Italy
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