News / Maersk Line still the largest container line in 2016, but is not immune to overcapacity and weak demand

Maersk Line has retained its position as the world’s largest container shipping line, according to Alphaliner.

The Danish carrier had a total operated capacity of 3.01m teu across 584 ships at the beginning of the year, compared with nearest rival MSC’s 484 ships for 2.67m teu.

Maersk grew its fleet by 4.1% in 2014, while MSC’s fleet grew by 5.2%, although it has a larger orderbook of 43 ships for 572,720 teu versus Maersk’s 31 ships for 405,910 teu.

One surprising aspect of ...