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Largest container shipping companies in the world
1) Evergreen Marine Corporation
2) NYK
3) Maersk
4) Hapag-Lloyd
5) MSC
6) APL
7) CSCL
8) COSCO
9) Hanjin
10) CMA CGM
Want to know the largest container shipping companies? We have compiled the latest list of shipping companies that dominate the industry.
It won’t be a stretch to say that container ships form the backbone of world commerce. These ships enable the movement of a vast amount of goods to be through the ocean quickly and cheaply.
Container ships are cargo ships that move their load in truck-size standardized containers of freight. They revolutionized the way goods are transported across the globe.
Largest container shipping companies in the world
Following are some of the largest container shipping companies in the world.
1)Evergreen Marine Corporation
Evergreen Marine Corporation is a container shipping and transportation company from Taiwan. It has its headquarters in Luzhu District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Evergreen corporation mostly operates between the trading routes from the Far East to North America, Central America as well as the Caribbean. It also operates from the far East to northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Other routes include Europe to the eastern coast of America, the Far East to Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, Asia, and South America.
Evergreen Marine Corporation has more than 150 ships in its fleet. Over the world, it operates on 240 ports spread over 80 countries. It is the fifth-largest company of its type.
Founded in 1968, the company presently employees more than 3000 people.
The ships from this company are usually painted green with the word evergreen written in block capitals in white.
The company belongs to the evergreen group of shipping transportation and other acquainted industries in Taiwan. The current chairman of the corporation is Chang, Cheng-Yung.
In 2018 it had a revenue of 4.26 billion dollars. Some of its divisions include Uniglory Marine Corp. (Taiwan), Evergreen UK Ltd. (the UK, -2007), and Italia Marittima S.p.A. (Italy, -2007).
2) NYK
NYK is a Japanese shipping company. It stands for Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. NYK is considered one of the largest and oldest shipping company in the world. It was founded on September 29, 1885. At the moment, it is 133 years old. Its headquarters are in Tokyo, Japan.
The company has more than 800 ships. These ships include container ships, tankers, woodchip carriers, bulk carriers, reefer vessels, LNG carriers as well as cruise ships.
Yasumi Kudo is the chairman of the company with Tadaaki Naito as its president. The company employs more than 33,000 people.
It has a net income of about 400 million dollars. Most of the ships in the company are named after flowers, stars, constellations, old Japanese provinces etc.
In the first half of the 20th century, most of the merchant ships in Japan belonged to the Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. Their ocean routes included those to Vancouver in Canada, Seattle, Hawaii and San Francisco in the United States of America, India and the Indian Ocean, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Locally, there are 78 home seaports out of which 38 seaports are open to foreign trade. The most important of these are Yokohama, Kobe, and Osaka.
3)Maersk
Maersk is a business industry which is involved in activities like transport, logistics, and several energy sectors. It is from Denmark. Its full name is A.P. Moller–Maersk Group. The company has its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The company is one of the largest shipping companies in the whole world and also quite often considered as the largest operator of container ships and supply vessels. It employs more than 88000 people and has nearly a thousand subsidiaries spread across 130 countries.
Some of the key people in the company are Søren Skou who is the CEO of the group and Claus V. Hemmingsen who is the Vice CEO.
This company is 114 years old. It was founded in 1904 by Peter Mærsk Møller and his son Arnold Peder Møller
In 2016 the company split into two separate divisions namely transport and logistics & energy. It is thought to have as many as 786 vessels that it operates.
In 2017 the company had a revenue of 35 billion dollars.
The logo of the company is a square with a blue background with a seven-pointed white star on it. It was given by P. M. Møller who was a very religious Christian.
4)Hapag-Lloyd
Hapag-Lloyd AG is an international transportation company based in Germany. It was formed in 1970 by the merging of two companies namely Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) and Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) or North German Lloyd (NGL). Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) was founded in 1847 while Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) was formed in 1856. The headquarters of the company are in Hamburg, Germany.
Some of the key people in the company are Rolf Habben Jansen who is the CEO, Nicolás Burr that is the CFO, Anthony James Firmin, the COO etc.
The company employs more than 13,000 people. It also has more than 130 ships which cater to over 5 million containers all over the world.
Hapag-Lloyd AG is one of the most renowned shipping and transportation companies in the whole world. In terms of capacity, it ranks number 5 in the world. It operates on trade routes across South America, Transatlantic, the Middle East, trans-pacific trades etc. Some of the other services that the company provides are international cruises and private jet services to the customers.
Some of the current, as well as former cruise ships of the company, are MS Europa, MS Europa 2, MS Bremen, MS Columbus etc.
5) MSC
The Mediterranean Shipping Company which is of an abbreviated as the MSC is one of the largest container shipping companies in the whole world. It is a Swiss company which has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
MSC has about 471 container vessels which makes it the second largest shipping company in terms of the number of container vessels.
It operates more than 480 offices spread across more than 150 countries over the world. MSC also employees more than 24000 people. It operates on more than 200 different trade routes with over 315 ports. The company operates in almost all of the major parts of the world. The most important port of the company is Antwerp in Belgium.
MSC launched the world’s largest container ship called the MSC Oscar in January 2015. It has a capacity of 19,224 twenty-foot equivalent units or TEU. A TEU is a unit used to measure the capacity of any container ship. The whole company has a capacity of more than 2,435,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.
Some of the most important ships of the company are MSC Oscar, MSC Beatrice, MSC Bruxelles, MSC Camille, MSC Geneva, MSC Sabrina, MSC Chicago, MSC Leigh, MSC Zoe etc.
6) APL
The American President Lines or the APL is a transportation and shipping company. The company along with its parent company called the CMA CGM is the world’s third largest container shipping company. This company is more than 170 years old. It has its headquarters in Singapore and Rockville, Maryland in the United States of America. The company was originally a subsidiary of another company known as the Neptune Orient Lines or NOL. The NOL is an international transportation and logistics company which is based in France.
Founded in 1848, APL’s current chief executive officer of the company is Nicolas Sartini. The company employees more than 5000 people and also has a revenue of over 4.6 billion dollars. The company mainly operates in North America and Asia.
It provides more than 80 weekly services the main of which is container shipping. APL also has a container ship fleet which has more than 153 container vessels. It operates at 10 different strategic points around the world. These include Dutch harbor in Alaska, the United States, Kobe and Yokohama in Japan, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Laem Chabang in Thailand, Qingdao in China, Nhava Sheva in India and Kaohsiung in Taiwan.
7)CSCL
The China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd was the Chinese Marine shipping company based in Shanghai. It was founded in 1997. CSCL does not work independently today but is a subsidiary of a company called COSCO.
In 2013 the container shipping market became crippled because of various factors such as weak global GDP, sluggish global trade growth, muted demand for container shipping etc. All of this cost a downfall of the container shipping industry. this also led to financial instability when it came to shipping businesses. Hence the company merged with a Chinese government-owned company called COSCO in 2015 and now is a subsidiary of it.
The two companies together now one of the largest container shipping companies in the whole world. The aim to expand their capacity to more than 2 million TEU which would make than the third largest container shipping company in the world.
The company has several ports all around the world with 30 ports being situated in south China and north China itself.
It has experienced rapid growth in recent years and aims to grow even more in the future. Thus, the company seems to have a bright future in the container shipping industry.
Photo courtesy:https://www.flickr.com/photos/132991951@N07/17388967742/
8) COSCO
China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company often abbreviated as COSCO is a Chinese transportation and logistics company. The company has its headquarters in Ocean Plaza which is situated in the Xicheng District in Beijing.
The company has 1114 ships, which include a fleet of ships with the capacity of 1,580,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), dry bulk vessels and a tanker fleet which contains over 120 vessels. It operates across 40 countries all over the world.
The company operates at around 1000 different ports all over the world. COSCO is also the fourth largest shipping company in the world in terms of the number of vessels. The company expects to increase the number of ships and its fleet by 400 very soon as it has bought a rival company from Hong Kong for 6.3 billion dollars.
The China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company was founded on April27, 1961. Today, it is 57 years ago.
COSCO also has several subsidiary companies. The number of subsidiaries that the company is estimated to be more than 300. Most of them operate in China, Japan, and Singapore. These subsidiary companies mainly deal with businesses such as shipbuilding, ship repairing, container manufacturing, terminal operations, trade, finance, information technology, and even real estate.
9)Hanjin
Hanjin Shipping Co., Ltd. is a former South Korean logistics and container transport company. It was one of South Korea is the biggest shipping companies and one of the top 10 shipping and logistics companies in the world in terms of shipping capacity. It has its headquarters in South Korea.
Founded on 16 May 1977 the company rose quickly beforegoing bankrupt. Hanjin was declared as dysfunctional on 17 February 2017.
It had a fleet of nearly 60 ships. This list included container ships, LNG carriers, and bulk. It transported and more than a hundred million tonnes of cargo every year. Hanjin also operated around the world and head offices in many different countries.
It has a capacity of 3.7 million TEU. The company also has several dockyards. It on a total of 14 dockyards which span across countries such as South Korea, the United States of America, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Belgium. The company also has several subsidiaries of its own.
The company was also the first ever to introduce a class carrier ship with a capacity of 10,000 TEU which travel from Asia to Europe.
On 17 February 2017 South Korean courts declared the company as bankrupt. The shipping terminals of the country were internationally distributed.
10)CMA CGM
When translated in English the acronym of the company stands for Maritime Freighting Company – General Maritime Company. The CMA CGM is a container shipping and transportation company based in France. It is France’s leading company of its kind. It is also one of the largest worldwide shipping groups. CMA CGM has a total of 200 different shipping routes with more than 420 ports spread across 150 countries. Its headquarters are based in Marseille France. its North American headquarters are based in Norfolk, Virginia in the United States of America.
It was founded by Jacques Saadé in 1978. Jacques Saadé is also one of the key people in the company as its chairman. Rodolphe Saadé is the CEO of the company. It employs more than 29000 people.
In 2018, the company had a revenue of 21.1 billion dollars.
The shipping containers for this company are painted in dark blue with the words CMA CGM painted in white.
The CMA CGM also runs a foundation called the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children which was started in 2005. Its main objective is to improve the well-being of children. Etiquettes to improve the everyday lives of sick children, promoting equal opportunities for underprivileged children, and encourage the personal development of differently-abled children.
As you have guessed the world has moved a great deal from the revolutionary clipper ships of the yore to modern container ships but the fascination for the largest and fastest remains the same in both seafarers and the general public.
FAQs
10 Largest Container Shipping Companies In The World 2023? ›
MSC Irina has become the world's largest container ship, with a capacity of 24,346 TEUs. It was put into service in 2023 and is sailing under the Liberian Flag. It measures about 399.9 meters in length and boasts a moulded width of about 61.3 meters.
What is the largest container ship in 2023? ›MSC Irina has become the world's largest container ship, with a capacity of 24,346 TEUs. It was put into service in 2023 and is sailing under the Liberian Flag. It measures about 399.9 meters in length and boasts a moulded width of about 61.3 meters.
Who is the largest container shipping company? ›| Rank | Company name | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) | Switzerland/ Italy |
| 2 | Maersk | Denmark |
| 3 | CMA CGM | France |
| 4 | COSCO Shipping Lines (COSCO) | China |
Containers Owned By Shipping Lines
A large portion of shipping containers are owned directly by shipping lines, also known as ocean carriers. This is the reason why this type of container ownership is referred to as carrier-owned containers, or simply put COC.
Icon of the Seas will debut in early 2024 as the world's largest cruise ship at more than 250,000 gross tons. Icon of the Seas will sail week long cruises to the Caribbean from the Cruise Capital of the World, PortMiami. Cruises on this new cruise ship open for bookings on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.
Are container ships getting bigger? ›"We're seeing a lot more of the ultra-large container ships being built," he says. "The proportion of new ships that are moving over 14,000 containers is staggering." In the last decade alone, the average capacity of a container ship has grown from less than 3,000 TEUs to around 4,500 TEUs.
Who is the largest container leasing company? ›We are the world's largest container leasing company
At Triton, we lease five types of equipment: Dry Freight Containers, Refrigerated Containers, Special Containers, Chassis, and Tank Containers.
A.P. Møller-Maersk & Family – Net Worth $21 Billion, Denmark. A true household name in shipping, Moeller-Maersk is a global conglomerate with nearly 90,000 employees.
Who is the largest container lessor? ›Triton Interntional is the world's largest lessor of shipping containers.
Which country owns the most shipping? ›
China owns the largest Container fleet both in terms of vessels and values. The unprecedented increase in rates seen over the last two years has boosted the value of the fleet from c. USD 28 bn at the start of 2021 to c.
Who has the largest vessel fleet in the world? ›Today China has the world's largest seaport, Shanghai, which handled a staggering 43.3 million TEUs in 2019 alone, and the world's largest shipping company, COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company). The country also builds a whopping 96% of the world's shipping containers.
Which company owns the most ships in the world? ›As of December 2022, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) was the leading container ship operator in terms of owned and chartered ships. MSC had 413 own container vessels and 301 chartered ships in its fleet.
What is the oldest container shipping company? ›| Industry | Container shipping |
| Founded | 1928 |
| Headquarters | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Vincent Clerc (CEO) |
Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine in June launched the largest container ship ever built, the aptly named Ever Alot.
Which country buys shipping containers the most? ›| Rank | Country | 20-Foot Container Count (2017) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China (inc. H.K.) | 234,489,920 |
| 2 | United States | 51,425,464 |
| 3 | Singapore | 33,600,000 |
| 4 | South Korea | 27,427,000 |
The U.S. Navy's newest warship, USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is the largest and most technologically advanced surface combatant in the world. Zumwalt is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission destroyers designed to strengthen naval power from the sea.
What is the biggest upcoming aircraft carrier? ›| Ship | Hull no. | Launched |
|---|---|---|
| Gerald R. Ford | CVN-78 | 11 October 2013 |
| John F. Kennedy | CVN-79 | 29 October 2019 |
| Enterprise | CVN-80 | November 2025 (scheduled) |
| Doris Miller | CVN-81 | October 2029 (scheduled) |
Some of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world are located in Asia, which include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, and China State Shipbuilding Corporation. As for the U.S., here's what Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
How many 40ft containers can a ship carry? ›They have 24 bays and carry between 18,000 and 21,000 TEUs or 9,000 to 10,500 forty-foot containers. The TEUs are a unit that indicates the number of containers the ships can carry. The Triple-E can carry between 18,000-21,000 twenty-foot containers or up to 165,000 tons.
How long do container ships last? ›
The average lifespan of a ship is 25-30 years. After this span, the ship may become too expensive to operate, but most importantly, to become unseaworthy putting human safety at risk. So, have you ever wondered what happens to a ship when it is too old to sail?
What is the future of container shipping? ›The construction of new ships plus the retention of the old ones will soon result in substantial growth in the total number of container ships. Therefore, in the next two years, more freight ships will be a new feature of the container shipping industry and this trend will continue to consolidate in the future.
What are the three largest shipping companies? ›- #1 A. P. Møller - Mærsk A/S (AMKBY)
- #2 COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co. Ltd. ...
- #3 Hapag-Lloyd AG (HPGLY)
- #4 Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NPNYY)
- #5 Orient Overseas International Ltd. (OROVF)
- #6 ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd (ZIM)
- #7 Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. ...
- #8 Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd.
With imports of over 940,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, Walmart was the largest importer of goods via container shipping into the United States in 2018.
Where are most shipping containers built? ›Currently, around 85% of all container manufacturers are based in China. Financially, it makes sense to manufacture boxes in China due to low labor costs, as well as cheap steel production.
What is the biggest shipping company in North America? ›The largest trucking company in the North America is UPS, with a revenue of $97.3 billion. As of 2022, the U.S. trucking industry has a market size of $217.3 billion. There are at least 12.5 million commercial trucks in the U.S.
What is the number one shipping company in the US? ›54% of the top 500 online shops by net sales in 2020 in the U.S., for which shipping information is available and known, have indicated USPS (United States Postal Service) as a shipping method. Followed by UPS (United Parcel Service) and Click & collect with percentages of 48% and 42%.
What is the largest shipping company by revenue? ›Leading Fortune Global 500 companies in shipping industry 2022, by revenue. According to the 2022 Fortune Global 500 annual revenue ranking, COSCO SHIPPING Group is the world's largest shipping company. COSCO SHIPPING's revenue exceeded 84 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.
How much does a 40 foot shipping container cost? ›A new 40ft dry container will cost somewhere between $2,500 to $4,500. Whereas, a new 40ft high cube (HC) container will cost you around $2,500 to $6,000.
Who owns empty shipping containers? ›If you are using a shipping container it probably came from one of two places, it is either owned by a shipping line or owned by a container leasing company, a very small percentage of shipping containers are also owned by the shipper. The only indication of ownership is the writing on the side of the container.
Who owns container Depot? ›
Who owns an inland container depot? Globally, ICDs can be privately owned as well as state-owned. In India, they are state-owned and are managed by the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR).
What is the busiest shipping area in the world? ›The English Channel (Europe-UK)
This is the busiest sea route in the world, it connects the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It's an important trade link between Europe and UK. More than 500 ships pass through this channel daily. It also has the world's busiest shipping lane.
Leading Maritime Cities report 2022: Singapore still in top spot followed by Rotterdam and London.
What is the biggest shipping route in the world? ›The longest shipping route in the world is the route between Asia and the East Coast of South America with approximately 19,000 nautical miles (35,000 kilometers) and about 45 days to complete.
Who has the biggest military fleet? ›- Fact Files - US Navy.
- Navy Fleet Strength by Country (2021)
- Chinese Navy is the largest navy in world, new report shows - Naval Today.
- Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2021 - United States Department of Defense.
Unloading cargo containers off a vessel and getting them accessible to shippers can take an average of one to three days under normal conditions. Transporting cargo to warehouses or distribution centers can take a day or two in most cases, with a few additional days needed to prepare items for truckload pickup.
What is the biggest ship still in use? ›The largest vessel ever made was the Seawise Giant which was 1,504 feet in length and had a gross tonnage of 260,941. As it's no longer in use, the longest ship currently in use in the world is the Ever Ace container ship at 1,312 feet.
Who are the largest ship manufacturers USA? ›HII Corporate, formerly Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., is the largest military shipbuilding company in the United States as well as a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry.
What is the largest oil tanker in the world 2023? ›Oil Tankers - TI Asia
TI Asia (FSO Asia since 2009-IMO:9224752) is the largest oil supertanker with a deadweight tonnage of 234,006. It belongs to the TI class of supertankers. The ship is owned and operated by Tankers International as signified by the 'TI' in the name.
In this context, S&P Global Freight Rate Forecast (FRF) models predict the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) to rebound from average 800 points in the first two months of 2023 to average about 1,400-1,600 points in 2023-24, while we assume container freight rates will continue to decline to average about $1,000-2,000 per box (FEU ...
How much will shipping container prices be in 2023? ›
Meanwhile, long-term contract rates finished 2022 about 20% lower than the pandemic peak of more than $8,000 per container, according to maritime consultancy Drewry, which expects contract rates to halve in 2023. That forecast would put rates at about $3,200, versus the pre-pandemic rate of around $1,500.
What is the largest container ship North America? ›The largest container ship to sail to the U.S. East Coast is the CMA CGM Marco Polo, a 16,022-TEU vessel that called on the ports of New York and New Jersey, Savannah and Charleston in 2021.
Who holds 80 of the world's oil? ›Industry leader BP plc estimates that there are 1.73 trillion barrels of oil reserves globally. Approximately 80% of the world's oil reserves are in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Who owns most of the world's tanker capacity? ›Mitsui OSK Lines ranks first in the list of the largest oil tanker companies in the world. Commonly known as MOL, the company is one of the largest shipping companies in the world and operates a fleet of more than 930 vessels with a deadweight of 66 million tons (DWT).
Which country owns the most oil tankers? ›Panama was the world's largest flag state for oil tankers, with 528 of the vessels in its registry. Six other flag states had more than 200 registered oil tankers: Liberia (464), Singapore (355), China (252), Russia (250), the Marshall Islands (234) and the Bahamas (209).
Will container prices drop in 2023? ›The prices of 20-foot dry cargo containers declined in every major region in the first quarter of 2023, the forecaster said.
Will freight rates go up in 2023 usa? ›Will trucking rates in 2023 increase or decrease? Without a doubt, trucking rates in 2023 have been lower. In the short term we see truckload rates decreasing. Clearly, the downtrend that began in the 3rd quarter of 2022 is still in play.
What is the freight prediction for 2023? ›Fifty-four percent of the Freight Rate Survey's respondents reported a negative forecast for 2023, citing concerns such as high fuel costs, increased regulation, inflation, overcapacity and a cooling economy.
How many years do shipping containers last? ›Shipping containers have an average lifespan of 25 years thanks to a design that ensures their durability when traveling by sea. After manufacturers modify cargo containers and transform them into container-based structures, the container's longevity remains.
Why do shipping containers only last 25 years? ›When maintained properly, a shipping container can last upwards of 25 years or longer. The lifespan depends on the condition of the container and the environment in which it is kept. Although they are built to resist harsh climates, its' lifespan can be cut short by wetter, saltier climates.
How long will container shortage last? ›
Some experts had predicted that the shortage could begin to wind down at some point in 2022, as an increase in container production would bring enough new ones into the global supply chain to ease imbalances.