As the global container fleet slowly but steadily approaches 37 million TEUs, the liner shipping market remained resilient in 2025, despite geopolitical turmoil and ongoing route reshuffles. According to Alphaliner, the twelve largest carriers, each controlling more than 1% of global tonnage, grew their fleets by 7.3% in one year, adding a total of 2.14 million TEUs.
MSC added 831,400 TEUs, accounting for at least 39% of the capacity growth of the top 12 shipping lines. Following the 11.7% capacity increase in 2025, the Geneva-based shipping company has widened the gap with second-largest shipping company Maersk to 2.5 million TEUs, up from 1.9 million TEUs a year ago. MSC added 54 newbuildings to its fleet, representing 695,185 additional TEUs.
Other companies that showed above-average growth in 2025 were Evergreen (+10.2%), Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM)(+12.8%), Wan Hai Lines (+9.4%) and Pacific International Lines (PIL) (+13.4%). ZIM was the only one of the top 10 to reduce its capacity (-10.7%) after several years of rapid expansion due to the addition of new ships to its fleet. The Israeli shipping company’s capacity reduction resulted in falling to tenth place, while Yang Ming regained ninth place with a modest fleet growth of 1.5%. It is worth noting that ZIM and Yang Ming were the only ones of the top 12 shipping companies that did not add new ships to their fleet in 2025.
Also, the French CMA CGM with 4.1 million TEUs is in close proximity to the Danish Maersk with 4.61 million TEUs. The French shipping company expanded its fleet at a rate roughly equal to the market average (+7.5%), while the growth of the Danish competitor was limited to 4.3%. At the same time, the commercial inertia of containerships remained at historically low levels, below 1%.
As of December 29, 2025, Alphaliner counted 83 ships with a total capacity of 212,327 TEUs as commercially inactive. This represents just 0.6% of the global container fleet. December’s idleness is in line with the 0.7% average recorded by Alphaliner for the past year. At current levels, commercial ship idleness remains a minor factor in the container shipping sector, but continued new vessel deliveries, combined with a traditionally weak first quarter, could lead to increased ship idleness in the coming months. Approximately 1.50 million TEUs of new ship capacity are scheduled to be delivered in 2026.
2026 challenges
The biggest challenge for the industry in 2026 remains the potential large-scale return of container ships to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea route, provided that security in the region stabilizes.
At the same time, the United States continues to show political and trade uncertainty. The Russia-Ukraine war, rising tensions between China and Taiwan, increased US interventionism in Latin America and persistent instability in the Middle East constitue an explosive mix.
Source: www.naftemporiki.gr
