Top 25 containerlines control 80% of worldwide ship capacity
The largest 25 containership operators in the world have increased their combined share of the global shipping capacity to 79.6 percent on Jan. 1 from 77.4 percent in January 2003, the research arm of French shipbroker Barry Rogliano Salles said in a report.
BRS-Alphaliner said the increasing share of the “top 25 operators” confirms the concentration trend in the container-shipping sector.
The combined share of the largest 20 or 25 carriers has shown a slow upwards trend for many years, largely because of their tendency to order a disproportionately high share of new containerships. Nevertheless, other reports have shown that the number and scale of takeovers and mergers in container shipping have decreased in the last five years.
BRS-Alphaliner said the TEU capacity deployed by the 25 largest carriers in the liner trades, including fully cellular and other container-capable ships, expanded 12.3 percent over the one-year period to Jan. 1 to 5.96 million TEUs. Over the same period, the global ship capacity of all operators grew 9.3 percent, to 7.49 million TEUs.
BRS-Alphaliner reported differences in the rate of growth of the largest container carriers. Among the fastest-growing carriers were CMA CGM, with a fleet growth of 36 percent over the one-year period, and Mediterranean Shipping Co., which expanded its fleet 16 percent. The A.P. Moller/Maersk group, comprising Maersk Sealand, Safmarine and other affiliates, grew its ship capacity 12 percent over the same period.
By contrast, China Ocean Shipping Co. (COSCO) saw its fleet decrease 1 percent in the year to Jan. 1, while Hanjin Shipping and its subsidiary Senator Lines reduced their combined ship capacity by 7 percent, according to the report.