Maersk Line, a unit of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, has retained its position as the world’s largest container shipping line, according to Alphaliner.
It is still the world’s largest ocean carrier by capacity but its closest rivals, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM, posted higher fleet growth rates during 2015.
It is safe from its closest rivals with a fleet growth of 4.1 percent in 2015, data from Alphaliner shows.
Maersk has cut sharply on Asia-Europe but have moved ships elsewhere.
It had a total operated capacity of 3.01m TEU across 584 ships at the beginning of the year, compared with nearest rival MSC’s 484 ships for 2.67m TEU. Maersk grew its fleet by 4.1% in 2014, while MSC’s fleet grew by 5.2%, although it has a larger order book of 43 ships for 572,720 TEU versus Maersk’s 31 ships for 405,910 TEU.
Maersk increased the capacity it deployed between Asia and North America by 24% and by a massive 223% between Europe and North America as a result of the 2M cooperation.
A.P. Moller-Maersk’s container shipping subsidiaries — Maersk Line, Safmarine, MCC-Transport, Seago Line and Mercosul Line — operate nearly 600 vessels with a total capacity of more than 2.6 million TEUs.
Maersk operates the largest container ships in the world to date, with delivery of its 18,270-TEU Triple E vessels beginning this year with the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller.
Today, there are 6,092 ships active on liner trades, for 20,402,717 TEU and 254,542,945 TDW Including 5,160 fully cellular ships for 19,955,087 TEU.
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