ONE has built an approximate 8,000 slot lead over
Evergreen this month to push into sixth
place in the carrier
rankings tracked by Alphaliner.
Nevertheless,
Evergreen’s sizeable orderbook is expected to see it jump back ahead of ONE
again soon, and possibly even challenge Hapag-Lloyd for fifth spot.
Looking at defending its fifth spot, Hapag-Lloyd is
understood to be one of four parties to have lodged a bid for South Korean
flagship, HMM, which state creditors are looking to sell by the end of this
year.
The
global top ten carrier rankings have undergone some changes in the last couple
of years.
Whereas up to the start of 2021, there were three
distinct groups – a top four, a middling threesome and three sub-1m slot
carriers propping up the leaderboard, this has changed considerably in the last
two and a half years. Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), which overturned
Maersk’s quarter-century tenure at the top of the rankings at the start of 2021,
is now out on its own, more than 1m slots away from the Danish carrier, which
is on track to be overtaken by France’s CMA CGM soon. COSCO, in fourth spot,
meanwhile, has lost its touching distance with the podium since 2021.