Container Shipping Lines

Currently there are hundreds of container shipping lines around the world.

They vary from giant corporations (such as Maersk, CMA-CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, China Shipping Container Lines...) with hundreds of container vessels, to medium regional lines operating dozen of vessels (e.g. RCL, TS Lines), to even much smaller companies operating just few or even one box ship (usually domestic shipping lines in countries).

Those companies provide different wide range of services, yet, they all serve a common mission: transporting cargo containers around the world. 

Container Ship

According to AXS-Alphaliner, a worldwide reference in liner shipping, 100 leading container shipping lines are operating (either owning or chartering in) approximately 4,400 vessels, with capacity of about 12.5 million TEUs, which accounts for up to 96,1% the capacity of the whole world’s cellular fleet. The world containership fleet in January 2010 has over 4,700 vessels with total capacity of about 13 million TEUs.

The detail rankings and capability of 100 top container shipping lines are summarized in the following table.

 

AXS Alphaliner - Top 100 operated fleets
Rnk
Operators
Total
Rnk
Operators
Total
TEU
Ships
TEU
Ships
1
 APM-Maersk
2,052,270
540
51
 MACS
16,225
13
2
 MSC
1,498,296
390
52
 Meratus
16,175
39
3
 CMA CGM Group
1,034,255
356
53
 Dole Ocean Liner
15,668
29
4
 Evergreen Line
557,444
150
54
 Heung-A Shipping
14,811
19
5
 APL
543,609
137
55
 Westwood
13,828
7
6
 Hapag-Lloyd
463,457
112
56
 Nam Sung
13,273
21
7
 COSCO
Container Lines
453,876
135
57
 Simatech
13,261
10
8
 CSCL
450,337
124
58
 Delphis NV / Team Lines
12,711
14
9
 Hanjin Shipping
434,852
98
59
 United Feeder Services
12,597
15
10
 NYK
409,137
107
60
 Tanto Intim Line
12,424
31
11
 CSAV Group
343,776
98
61
 FESCO
12,372
17
12
 K Line
342,299
90
62
 Containerships OY
12,317
14
13
 OOCL
340,439
73
63
 OEL / Shreyas
12,135
12
14
 MOL
339,673
90
64
 Borchard Lines
11,303
14
15
 Yang Ming Line
312,962
77
65
 Log-In Logistica
10,306
8
16
 Hamburg Süd Group
309,570
103
66
 HubLine Bhd
9,567
18
17
 Zim
305,538
94
67
 Vinalines
9,530
15
18
 Hyundai M.M.
274,529
53
68
 Marfret
9,438
9
19
 UASC
196,237
49
69
 Mariana Express Lines
9,421
10
20
 PIL
193,965
110
70
 Boluda Lines
9,090
11
21
 MISC Berhad
125,101
39
71
 Valfajre Eight Shg Co
8,803
12
22
 Wan Hai Lines
125,060
66
72
 Irish Continental Group
8,389
13
23
 HDS Lines
96,325
31
73
 Samskip
8,366
12
24
 RCL
53,435
39
74
 NSCSA
8,100
4
25
 Sea Consortium
53,205
46
75
 Universal Africa
Line
8,056
16
26
 Grimaldi (Napoli)
50,988
46
76
 Tarros
7,932
8
27
 TS Lines
48,925
27
77
 Great White Fleet
7,914
18
28
 KMTC
37,349
32
78
 Bien Dong Shg (Vinashin)
7,820
15
29
 CCNI
36,712
16
79
 SeaFreight
7,629
8
30
 STX Pan Ocean
34,706
26
80
 Shanghai Jin Jiang
7,459
9
31
 SITC
34,424
39
81
 Tropical Shg
7,183
16
32
 Horizon Lines
34,150
16
82
 OPDR
6,522
10
33
 Arkas Line / EMES
30,887
27
83
 Eimskip
6,476
10
34
 UniFeeder
30,814
38
84
 DAL
6,353
2
35
 Maruba + CLAN
30,146
13
85
 Kambara Kisen
6,167
8
36
 Matson
29,074
15
86
 Conti Lines
6,165
6
37
 Emirates Shipping Line
27,592
10
87
 Caribbean Feeder Services
6,038
9
38
 Seaboard Marine
27,477
33
88
 Independent Container Line
5,910
4
39
 S.C. India
27,468
10
89
 Yanghai Shipping Co (YSC)
5,345
5
40
 Schöller Group
27,436
18
90
 Chun Kyung (CK Line)
5,302
11
41
 Samudera
27,062
31
91
 Johan Shg
5,263
12
42
 Swire Shipping
26,635
25
92
 Formosa Plastics
5,251
5
43
 Sinotrans
24,139
28
93
 Melfi C.L.
5,194
5
44
 Nile Dutch Shg
24,042
17
94
 Peel Ports (BG Freight)
5,181
9
45
 Linea Messina
23,156
17
95
 Qatar National
Line
5,156
8
46
 Sinokor
22,930
24
96
 Dannebrog / Nordana
4,953
7
47
 Turkon Line
20,635
16
97
 Shanghai Hai Hua (Hasco)
4,766
7
48
 Crowley Liner Services
19,624
23
98
 IMTC
4,580
9
49
 Grand China Logistics
18,916
15
99
 UAFL
4,557
5
50
 Temas Line
18,914
35
100
 Marguisa
4,408
5

From different perspective, those container shipping lines are sorted by country where head offices are located. That way shows 10 nations with largest fleet of container ships.

Ranking
Nations
TEU
Ships
1
 Denmark 2,088,037
585
2
 Switzerland 1,498,296
390
3
 Japan 1,097,276
295
4
 Taiwan, China 1,044,391
320
5
 France 1,043,693
365
6
 China 993,917
357
7
 S.Korea 843,097
289
8
 Germany 829,563
258
9
 Singapore 800,200
303
10
 Chile 380,488
114

Top nations (territories) with the largest box fleet

Shipping lines in Vietnam

Among top 100 leading container lines, Vietnam only have two representatives with modest position: Vinalines (ranking 67) and Bien Dong (ranking 78).

In Vietnam, container liner service only began from late of the 1980s. At the beginning of 2010, Vietnam has 12 container shipping lines which own and operate over 30 liners of total 20,600 TEUs. Some operators participated in the liner market from last decade, such as Gemadept, Vinalines, Vinafco… while some other players are pretty new in the market; VSICO, VOSCO are examples. Some other lines have only one ships, either owning (like Viconship) or chartering (Viet Sun). Names of these companies are listed below.

  • Biển Đông
  • Đông Đô
  • Gemadept
  • Nam Triệu
  • Vinafco
  • Vinalines
  • Vinashin Lines
  • Viet Sun
  • VOSCO
  • VSICO

In general, most Vietnamese container shipping lines provide domestic service on Haiphong-Hochiminh and backward route. Several lines with more experience (Gemadept, Vinalines, Bien Dong) provide feeder services to regional hub-ports like Hong Kong, Singapore. Viconship is deploying a 380-TEU feeder ship on Hai Phong-Hong Kong. DHP (a joint venture between Dong Do and Hai Phong port) some time send their vessels to the same route, yet whenever possible, they alter plan and offer to chartering out their ships.

With restricted service network, Vietnamese container shipping lines only take care of small percentage of trade volume to and from the nation. Main players in the attractive market are still foreign main shipping lines.

In 2010, more than 40 foreign shipping lines are present in Vietnam, and taking an important role in import-export shipping market. They maintain activities through a local agent, a joint-venture, or in a few cases, a company with 100% foreign ownership.

Detail about Top 100 container shipping lines around the world and theircontainer tracking pages

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