THE world's biggest container shipping company, the Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), is about to get even bigger, reports Singapore's Splash 247.

MSC is about to stretch its lead over its nearest rival - Maersk - to two million TEU with new data showing how well placed it has managed to become as a standalone operator following a shake-up of the liner trades this month.

According to consultancy Linerlytica, MSC has better market coverage and a larger market share compared to the Gemini Cooperation alliance on the east-west trades. Gemini Cooperation is made up of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.

"MSC will be able to offer the same or a larger number of weekly sailings on all of the four main routes than Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, using its self-operated services as well as selective partnerships with Premier Alliance on the North Europe and Med routes and with Zim on the US east coast and PNW routes," Linerlytica noted in its latest weekly report.

MSC now has a 1.87 million TEU lead over Maersk in Alphaliner's liner rankings, with its near two million TEU orderbook ensuring that lead will surpass two million TEU in the coming months.