Container ship order capacity at its largest level in history

With the U-Freight Group’s strong presence in the global container shipping arena, we note an article on the Maritime Executive website that reports that the sector continues to grow, with attention focused on the carriers’ total orderbook, which at more than 10 million teu is the largest in history.

The report is based on Alphaliner data and says that while all the largest carriers continue to grow, two carriers, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and HMM, hit significant milestones in their strategies recently.

MSC has for the first time topped the seven million teu capacity mark, making its capacity 50 percent larger than the second largest carrier, Maersk, with much of its growth driven by the secondhand market. Alphaliner reports MSC acquired around 400 ships in the past five years.

HMM joined the elite group of carriers with more than one million teu capacity.

Alphaliner highlights that despite the uncertainties created by trade policies and tariffs, the container sector has been booming. August, it reports, was the highest monthly figure for teu volume handled for the sector. It is a strong growth year for container shipping. China has orders to deliver a further nearly 7.4 million teu, while South Korea has orders for just over two million teu of new capacity.

In the first half of 2025, Alphaliner points out on a percentage basis, Hapag-Lloyd and COSCO Shipping were the two large carriers that made the biggest capacity additions. Among the top 10 carriers, all added capacity in the first half of 2025, and all have placed orders for more capacity.

While MSC holds the largest orderbook, two other carriers have placed very significant orders. CMA CMG has a further 1.715 million teu of capacity on order for its fleet, which currently has a total capacity of just under 4.1 million teu. China’s COSCO also has nearly 1.2 million teu of capacity on order.

Even with an expected culling of older vessels long overdue, the large carriers are planning for significant growth.

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