Inspenet, June 26, 2023.
CMA CGM almost at the top
CMA CGM is on track to quickly become the world’s second largest shipping line in terms of capacity, surpassing Maersk, analysis by maritime industry expert Lars Jensen suggests when examining the list of the top 100 shipping operators. Alphaliner shipping containers. Jensen points out that the combination of current fleet and backorders leaves Maersk with a mere 16,000 TEU advantage over CMA CGM.
This demonstrates the high potential for change, as in July 2020, MSC appeared to overtake Maersk as the world’s leading shipping line, despite Maersk maintaining an effective capacity advantage of approximately 49,000 TEU. In early 2022, MSC finally overtook Maersk as the operator with the largest capacity.
Jensen explains that depending on the point of view, some would argue that the size of the fleet is just a matter of vanity and that it’s far more important to be sustainable in what you’re doing.
The analyst agrees with this perception, but highlights that one of the determining factors to be sustainably profitable is the unit cost. In this sense, the importance of the relationship between the breadth and flexibility of the service network stands out.
The larger the network, the greater the ability to deploy a larger network and have greater control without relying on vessel sharing agreements.
However, he also points out that size is not the only element to consider, but it does play an important role. It is important to mention that Maersk is following a transformation strategy to become a comprehensive logistics operator, where capacity expansion is not the priority. This has seen MSC take the lead and now puts CMA CGM within reach of second place.
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