Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has expanded its containership capacity beyond 7.2 million TEU, strengthening its lead as the world's largest carrier with 21.4 per cent of the global fleet, reports Ventura, California's gCaptain.

Geneva-based MSC now operates 980 vessels, nearing the 1,000-ship mark. Of these, 727 ships representing 4.55 million TEU are owned, while 253 vessels totalling 2.65 million TEU are chartered, according to Alphaliner.

The carrier also holds an orderbook of 2.18 million TEU, ranking fourth among the top 10 carriers in orderbook-to-fleet ratio. MSC overtook AP Moller-Maersk in January 2022, when its fleet edged ahead by 1,888 TEU.

MSC widened the gap in 2024, becoming the first carrier to reach 20 per cent market share. Maersk, which pioneered container shipping from 1975, has focused on carbon-neutral vessels as part of its decarbonisation strategy.

Despite losing the capacity crown, Maersk retains an advantage in vessel ownership, with only 42 per cent of its fleet chartered compared with MSC's 65 per cent. MSC has been led since 2020 by Soren Toft, formerly a senior executive at Maersk.

The industry has seen sharp changes since the pandemic, when demand for consumer goods drove freight rates up 81 per cent in 2021, measured by the Shanghai containerised freight index.