Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), based in Switzerland, has reached a historic milestone by becoming the first container shipping company in the world to operate a fleet of 900 vessels.

Leading shipping analyst Alphaliner confirmed this achievement in its latest industry report.

The company crossed the 900 mark with the delivery of MSC Germany, a modern LNG-powered container ship with a capacity of 16,000 TEU.

The ship is part of a 12-vessel series that MSC ordered in October 2022 from a shipyard in China. The new ship falls under the “maxi-neo-Panamax” category and is one of several similar ships joining the fleet in the coming months.

According to Alphaliner, MSC’s current fleet is made up of 609 owned ships and 291 chartered vessels, combining for a total container capacity of around 6.47 million TEUs.

This gives MSC a lead of nearly one million TEUs over its nearest competitor, Maersk.

The fleet count includes ships operated under the main MSC brand as well as affiliated companies such as Medlog, Log-In Logistica, and WEC Lines.

Alphaliner’s analysis also considers ships under long-term bareboat charter contracts that come with purchase obligations, as long as MSC manages them directly.

Although Alphaliner currently lists 887 container ships in MSC’s operational data, MSC itself has confirmed that its total fleet has officially reached 900 vessels.

The company is expected to cross the 1,000 ship milestone in the coming years with 132 new ships already on order.

At a recent shipping conference held in California, MSC’s liner chief executive Soren Toft shared that the company operates 35 liner loops that connect 1,800 direct port pairs across the world.

MSC ships now call at 520 ports worldwide and transport over 27 million TEUs of cargo annually, further strengthening its status as the largest container carrier on the planet.

Apart from container shipping, the company has also made investments in logistics, automotive transport, and tugboat operations.

In terms of ship ownership, Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network places MSC as the second-largest shipowner in the world, just behind China COSCO Shipping, when all ship types are included.

This count also includes MSC’s cruise ship fleet which ranks third largest globally in that sector.

MSC was founded in 1970 in Brussels by Gianluigi Aponte, who was a former sea captain. The company began with just one ship named Patrica and has since grown into a maritime powerhouse with global influence.

According to Forbes, both Gianluigi Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte Diamant each hold a net worth of $35.8 billion, making them the 43rd and 44th richest people in the world.

They are currently the wealthiest figures in global shipping followed by Eyal Ofer who ranks 64th on the Forbes list.

Reference: xindemarinenews

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