MSC is on course to overtake alliance partner Maersk as the biggest ocean carrier by capacity within the next two years.
A new order for five 23,000 teu ULCVs from the South Korean Daewoo yard will take the Geneva-based carrier’s orderbook to 16 vessels, for a massive 305,352 teu, according to Alphaliner data.
A disclosure from Daewoo this week valued the order at $152m per ship, with delivery of the five by August 2021.
This will propel MSC’s fleet, including current chartered tonnage, to just under 4m teu, a capacity level Maersk has said it wants to stick at.
During the second-quarter earnings call in August, Maersk chief executive Soren Skou confirmed this, adding: “We want to remain disciplined on capacity and stick to our guidance of around 4m teu of deployed capacity because it helps us drive utilisation up and unit costs down.”.......MORE
Maersk on Monday:
Shipping: Maersk Raises Full-Year Forecast
And MSC:
August 31
As The World's Largest Container Ship Completes Its Maiden Voyage from China to Europe, A Call For Even Bigger Behemoths
August 15
Shipping: "MSC Gulsun Departs Port of Tanjung Pelepas with Record-Breaking 19,574 TEUs"
March 7
Container Shipping: "MAN Hired for World’s First Megaship Conversion to LNG Fuel"
I am not familiar with this "Megaship" nomenclature. ULCS or ULCV but not the "Megaship.
Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line is currently running the largest capacity container ships at 21,400 TEU with a couple of COSCO's ships also over 21,000 TEU.
CMA CGM's flagship, the Antoine de Saint Exupery clocks in with capacity of 20,950 TEU and Maersk has a fleet over 20,000 TEUs.
Those might be "Megaships". And the 23,350 TEU behemoths that MSC has on order definitely. would have to be...
January 15
Shipping: "MSC to Close Capacity Gap on Maersk in 2019"
September 2018
Shipping: "MSC Announces New Bunker Surcharge to Help Cover $2 Billion Per Year Low Sulphur Fuel Costs"
*The latest Lloyd's 100 Most Influential People in Shipping (Edition Eight, Dec. 2017) has the Aponte famiglia at #10, just behind the Saadé family (CMA CGM) now led by Rodolphe after his father's death this summer, at #9.
