 Second-tier carrier fleet growth exceeds market average |
Source |
American Shipper |
Post Date |
02/27/2025 |
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The eighteen medium-sized carriers ranked 13 to 30 in Alphaliner? top-100 currently control a combined fleet of just over 2.0 Mteu. This represents a joint 6.5% share of the global fleet.
This marks a slight increase on last year? 6.3%, but is still substantially lower than the 9.4% share recorded at the start of 2023.
Over the past twelve months, the overall capacity of the eighteen carriers grew by 12.4%, outpacing the 10.2% increase in the world liner fleet.
For the second consecutive year, SeaLead Shipping recorded the largest capacity addition among the second-tier lines. The addition of an extra 64,863 teu slots pushed the company from the 17th to 13th spot.
The Singapore-based carrier grew rapidly using tered tonnage. This additional capacity enabled the line to resume its Transpacific coverage and enhance its networks in East Africa, the Med, the Indian Subcontinent, as well as the Middle East and Red Sea. Further growth is planned for next month with the launch of its Transatlantic Med-US East Coast ?EDUS?service.
Meanwhile, Tangshan Port Hede Shipping, one of two new entrants in the top- 30 list, saw the greatest capacity jump by percentage, with an increase of 75.6% versus last year. About 80% of this capacity increase came from additional tonnage that the Chinese operator tered for its two new Transpacific loops, ?DS?and ?DS2? which mark Hede? first ever foray into deep-sea liner services.
Interasia Lines, the other new entrant, showed the second largest growth percentagewise. The company clocked a 54.1% increase in fleet size over the past year, with growth coming from three 3,000 teu newbuldings, as well as two 7,000 teu ships taken on ter and currently deployed on Far East to Indian subcontinent services.
The two new entrants pushed Swire Shipping (-6.7%) and Arkas Line (+0.9%) out of the top-30. They are now are at 31st and 34th place.
RCL did not expand to new regions but its fleet grew organically by 37.5% over the year, as a result of network enhancements and the replacement of older, smaller tonnage with larger, new vessels. Over the past year, the Thai carrier received ?arge?newbuilds of 4 x 11,000 teu and 4 x 7,000 teu vessels, albeit two of the 11,000 teu and two of the 7,000 teu units were tered out to ZIM and PIL.
Emirates Shipping Lines?enhancement of its existing Far East-Middle East and Far East-East Africa networks accounted for some of its 24,596 teu additional capacity since last year. This raised ESL? position from 25th to 22nd.
Among the top-30 South Korean lines, KMTC is the only one that saw a slight dip in capacity compared to February 2024. It ped to 16th spot. Sinokor, with a 16.2% growth, retained its 19th position while SM Line, with a capacity increase of 9.4%, rose to 28th place.
With strong tonnage demand in 2024, Zhonggu Logistics (-43.8%) and Antong Holdings (-11.4%), which focus on the domestic Chinese market, took advantage of favourable ter rates to hire out a considerable portion of their owned fleet to other carriers. As a result, their rankings ped to 29 and 25 respectively.
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