As of right now, around the world are more than 100 shipping companies that are competing for a place on the market. Most powerful ones we already know them, but it’s always good to know who you purchase from and who you compete with. You can see the full top 100 chart here.

Just to have an idea about global figures, right now in the world are :

• 6,139 active ships
• 23,468,120 TEU

TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit which can be used to measure a ship’s cargo carrying capacity. The dimensions of one TEU are equal to that of a standard 20′ shipping container. 20 feet long, 8 feet tall. Usually 9-11 pallets are able to fit in one TEU. This gives a volume range of 680 to 1,520 cubic feet for one TEU. While the TEU is not itself a measure of mass, some conclusions can be drawn about the maximum mass that a TEU can represent. The maximum gross mass for a 20-foot dry cargo container is 53,000 lb

• 284,109,767 DWT

Deadweight tonnage (also known as dead weight; abbreviated to DWT, D.W.T., d.w.t., or dwt) or tons deadweight (DWT) is a measure of how much weight a ship can carry, not its weight, empty or in any degree of load. DWT is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew.

As you can see below, who are the leaders in the business: ( the information below is based on existing fleet and overbook TEU capacity available on board operated ships )

A few details about top 5 biggest companies in the market

1 – A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S, also known as simply Maersk, is a Danish business conglomerate with activities in the transport, logistics and energy sectors. Maersk has been the largest container ship and supply vessel operator in the world since 1996. The company is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, with subsidiaries and offices across 130 countries and around 88,000 employees.

2 – Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) is a Swiss-Italian international shipping line. The company operates in all major ports of the world. It is the world’s second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity.
As of the end of August 2019, MSC was operating 561 container vessels with an intake capacity of 2,621,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). It has a division called MSC Cruises that focuses on holiday cruises.

3 – China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, known as COSCO, is a Chinese state-owned shipping and logistics services supplier company. Its headquarters is in Ocean Plaza in the Xicheng District in Beijing. It owns 484 ships, has a container fleet with a capacity of 1,564,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), and a tanker fleet of 120 vessels. The fleet calls at over a thousand ports worldwide. It ranks third largest in both number of container ships and aggregate container volume in the world.

It is the largest dry bulk carrier in China and one of the largest dry bulk shipping operators worldwide. In addition, the Group is the largest liner carrier in China. In February 2016, the COSCO Group merged with China Shipping Group to form China COSCO Shipping.

4 – CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company. It is a leading worldwide shipping group, using 200 shipping routes between 420 ports in 150 different countries, ranking fourth behind Maersk Line, MSC and COSCO. Its headquarters are in Marseille, and its North American headquarters are in Norfolk, Virginia, United States.
The name is an acronym of two predecessor companies, Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement (CMA) and Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM), which translate as “Maritime Freighting Company” and “General Maritime Company”.

5 – Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company. It is composed of a cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG. The container transport arm of Hapag-Lloyd AG is currently the world’s fifth largest container carrier in terms of vessel capacity.
The company was formed in 1970 by the merger of two German transportation/maritime companies, Hamburg America Line (HAPAG), which dated from 1847, and Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) or North German Lloyd (NGL), which was formed in 1856.
Since its formation, Hapag-Lloyd has been sold to many organizations and has also undergone numerous mergers with other companies. For instance, Hapag-Lloyd was completely acquired by, and became a subsidiary of TUI AG (Hanover) in 1998. This major event was followed by TUI selling a majority stake of Hapag-Lloyd to various private investors in Hamburg in 2009 and again in 2012. Other important events in the company’s history include Hapag-Lloyd’s acquisition of CP Ships in 2005 as well as Hapag-Lloyd’s merger with CSAV in 2014 and United Arab Shipping Company in 2017.
Currently, the companies shares are owned by several public and private investors, with the largest stake controlled by CSAV.

Thanks to: https://alphaliner.axsmarine.com & https://en.wikipedia.org