Major operators upped fleet size in 2024

Fleet growth among mainline operators was relatively even in 2024, as all the top 12 carriers increased their capacity by more than 6.9% last year, according to Alphaliner’s report.

Singapore’s Pacific International Lines (PIL), the 12th largest liner operator, increased its fleet by nearly 30% year-on-year, to 383,016 TEUs as of 1 January, after taking delivery of several LNG-propelled post-Panamax newbuildings.

ZIM Line posted the second-highest fleet growth, with a 26% increase in capacity, to 780,172 TEUs, as the Israeli operator took delivery of a good number of ships on long-term charter.

Hapag-Lloyd posted the third-largest growth, upping its fleet by 367,000 TEUs or 19% in 2024. The German carrier, however, only received seven large newbuildings (158,000 TEUs), which means that the majority of its fleet increase came from the charter market.

The German ocean carrier chartered nine 10-year-old neo-Panamax ships that came off long-term charters to Evergreen Marine Corporation (EMC). After a retrofit to boost their nominal capacity from approximately 13,000 TEUs to 15,440 TEUs, these vessels joined the operated fleet of the German carrier.

The departure of these ships from EMC’s fleet meant that the Taiwanese carrier added no less than 24 new vessels to its fleet (totaling 212,500 TEUs) in 2024, but net fleet growth stood at only 114,200 TEUs (+6.9%). Another reason for this is the fact that Evergreen started disposing of its 5,364 TEU ‘U-class’ ships, which were sold either for demolition or on the second-hand market to MSC.

The Swiss/Italian shipping company once again showed the strongest growth in terms of TEUs and today is the first-ever container shipping line with the necessary fleet size to operate an East-West network independently. MSC added 692,000 TEUs to its fleet in 2024, which represents an above-market average growth of 12.3%. MSC last year received 50 newbuildings amounting to 548,500 TEUs, including 26 neo-Panamax vessels of 15,400 – 16,600 TEUs.

Yang Ming Marine Transport was the odd one out, being the only top 12 carrier to record negative fleet growth. Its conservative approach to fleet expansion saw Yang Ming’s fleet dip by 1,918 TEUs, to 705,505 TEUs, as the Taiwanese operator dropped from ninth to 10th in the rankings.

Source: Container News

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