THE top 10 carriers now operate 85 per cent of global shipping capacity while four groups, Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), CMA CGM and Cosco control 58 per cent of capacity, reports New York's FreightWaves.

Meanwhile, the Swiss-Italian carrier MSC has been active in the secondhand market, purchasing 49 vessels since August.

MSC also just passed the four million TEU fleet milestone, and Alphaliner noted the carrier's fleet has increased four per cent since the beginning of 2021.

"The takeover could even happen before the end of the year, as MSC is to take delivery of four more 23,656-TEU megamax newbuildings in the coming months," said Alphaliner.

Once all newbuildings on order are delivered, MSC is expected to be far ahead of the pack. The combined tonnage of existing ships and newbuilds for MSC is 4.7 million TEU, 14 per cent above Maersk and 34 per cent above CMA CGM.

Meanwhile, Maersk has the least on order of all the larger liner companies featuring a newbuild capacity of 0.9 per cent of on-the-water capacity.