Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has achieved an unprecedented 19.8% market share, the highest share ever achieved by a shipping company, according to Alphaliner. The Geneva-based shipping company has added around 400,000 TEUs to its fleet this year, increasing its operating fleet share to a record level at the end of July.

This achievement surpasses Maersk’s previous record market share of 19.4% in 2018.

Other shipping companies, such as Israel’s ZIM, Japan’s Ocean Network Express, and Hapag-Lloyd, have also increased their market share this year. ZIM surpassed Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport for the first time since 2011, increasing its market share by 0.2% to 2.4%. Japan’s Ocean Network Express increased its market share year-on-year from 5.9% to 6.4%, and Hapag-Lloyd increased its market share from 6.8% to 7.2%.

Although delivering 25 new ships temporarily boosted Maersk’s market share, it continues to decline as the company pursues non-shipping growth as part of its strategy to become an integrated logistics provider. Alphaliner noted that the company plans to limit its fleet size to 4.1-4.3 million TEUs, limiting its market share growth compared to competitors such as MSC and CMA CGM.

Elsewhere, CMA CGM and Hyundai Merchant Marine saw their market share decline slightly relative to their volumes, while Evergreen and Yang Ming suffered larger declines.

The top ten shipping companies still dominate the container shipping market, accounting for a combined 83.9% of the fleet in operation at the end of July, slightly lower than 84.0% in the same period last year.

“This ‘new normal’ follows a rebound during the pandemic, when well-resourced carriers consolidated their fleets to take advantage of pandemic rates and increased their share of the top ten from 82%-83% previously,” Alphaliner said in its report.