Containership giant, Mediterranean Shipping Co is on track to overtake 2M alliance partner Maersk as the world’s largest container line by capacity deployed if it continues with its aggressive acquisition policy.

MSC operates a fleet of 587 boxships comprising 3.9m teu, while Maersk’s 711 ships have an aggregate capacity of 4.1m teu, figures from Alphaliner show. The capacity gap between the two stands at just 234,000 teu.

“Irrespective of past developments and fleet growth, the carriers’ opposing stance on container vessel newbuilding is expected to see MSC overtake its Danish competitor and claim the global top spot some time in 2022,” Alphaliner said.

MSC’s orderbook stands at nearly 660,000 teu, mainly consisting of ultra-large tonnage, compared with Maersk, which has only 42,000 teu of smaller tonnage on order.

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