Total capacity for the world’s container shipping fleet has reached 20 million TEU, with one million TEU added to the fleet in record time, according to the Journal of Commerce.
PTI previously reported that the world’s container shipping fleet was led by Maersk Line, who currently own more than three million TEU of the world’s capacity (15%).
If the proposed merger between Cosco and China Shipping comes to fruition, this could dramatically rock the rankings, with both Chinese carriers moving up to fourth place, behind the world’s leading three.
One of the highlights of the growth in size of the global fleet is that is was able to grow by one million in only seven-and-a-half months. More than 1.2 million TEU has been added to the world’s fleet in 2015 in total, which is a because of 152 new vessels.
Total TEU capacity is set to increase even further in the next few years as various shipping lines receive their orders for 19,000 and 20,000 TEU.
In 2015, the new capacity ordered has exceeded the annual contracts of the last seven years.
