It might seem a bit late for this news, but this is exactly the right time to talk about them again, the 2M.
Last January MSC surpassed Maersk becoming the world’s largest container carrier with a historical overtaking after decades of dominance by the Danish carrier. However, after one year and a half, this has been consolidated and reconfirmed by another historical result for MSC this year. According to some analysts, with the following few vessels arriving from Chinese shipyards, the Swiss giant will soon become the world’s largest vessel owner, surpassing Maersk once again.
During the last few years, MSC activity in the second-hand market has been staggering. According to Alphaliner data, from January 2020 MSC grew by almost 1.2 million TEU, purchasing 306 containerships (a 33% increase in just 3 years, while doubling its fleet in less than 9), breaking the 5 million TEU limit a few weeks ago. The overrun of the owned fleet comes after an apparent change of strategy, moving from 72% to the actual 53% chartered vessels (293 units).
If that wasn’t enough, Aponte’s company still has by far the biggest orderbook with 125 ships on order, equal to 32% of the actual fleet. In particular, lately MSC is reportedly looking for quotations on some 8.000 TEU vessels to be dual-fuelled with methanol/LNG, adding them to the actual 20 LNG dual-fuelled order to be delivered between 2024 and 2025.
Even if a substantial chunk of this orderbook aims at renovating the fleet and achieving carbon neutrality before 2050, it will be intriguing to see how this will impact the actual saturated market. Overcapacity and low rates will characterize the business for the coming years and while MSC will focus on covering all the trade routes, the other carriers will need to follow up closely, not risking just picking up the remaining crumbles.