Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) dethroned Maersk as the world’s largest shipping line in terms of container capacity. This is according to data from the company for analysis of shipping Alphaliner. The shift in the rankings puts an end to Maersk’s 25-year reign as the undisputed champion in freight transport, Quartz writes.
According to Alphaliner’s calculations, MSC already owns or rents enough ships with a capacity to carry 4,284,728 containers: this exceeds Maersk’s total capacity of 4,282,840 containers. For example, a 6-meter transport container can hold 400 flat-screen TVs or 48,000 bananas.
According to Simon Sundböll, co-founder of the eeSeea platform for Maersk (and Denmark), he was proud to be called the world’s largest container company for so many years.
Recently, Maersk decided to shift its focus from shipping to more profitable business lines such as air freight, trucking, warehousing, port terminals and logistics software sales. The company wants to be every step of the supply chain.
As early as March, Maersk officially announced that “the company has made a strategic decision to change course and focus on next-generation technology,” the statement said at the time.
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At the same time, however, MSC has redoubled its strategy of filling a fleet of large delivery ships that can deliver cargo at the lowest possible cost. “MSC is investing heavily in new and very efficient large vessels,” the company said.
CEO Soren Toft, who actually worked at Maersk before, said the company’s growth, profitability and customers were “what drives us and what will continue to move us forward.”
MSC is ahead of Maersk in one key indicator: the number of containers it can carry on the ships it owns. This is the most important thing when it comes to the size of the shipping line and means that MSC can transport more cargo than Maersk.
However, the dominance of MSCs is unclear. On the one hand, Maersk still owns more ships than MSC. On the other hand, MSC compensates for the difference by temporarily chartering cargo ships from other lines. The company is also ordering new ships.
MSC’s strategy is to purchase the largest cargo ships available because it is more efficient than smaller ships. Although the costs of operating larger ships are higher, they can carry much more cargo, so if they are fully loaded, the routes will be more profitable than the routes of smaller ships.
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MSC’s new position at the top of the list reflects the huge investments that the world’s largest shipping companies are making thanks to the huge profits they made during the pandemic.
The founder of eeSea believes that MSC may still decide to follow in Maersk’s footsteps. The company may change its strategy soon. “MSC will monitor Maersk and decide whether to move the business in the same direction,” he wrote.
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