After Hapag-Lloyd, the French company CMA CGM and its alliance partner Evergreen from Taiwan are also increasing their order books once again.
According to a report by the industry service Alphaliner, Evergreen wants to order a new series of eleven Megamax ships, each with a capacity of 24,000 TEU, and has placed inquiries with shipyards.
CMA CGM is said to be one step further and is about to sign a contract with the CSSC Group in China for a further series of twelve ships of 18,000 TEU each. Just a few days ago, the No. 3 in global container shipping, managed by Rodolphe Saadé, had already ordered twelve 18,000 TEU units from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea.
As previously reported, the Hamburg-based shipping company Hapag-Lloyd also expanded its newbuilding program shortly after the start of the Gemini alliance with Maersk. Hanwha Ocean (formerly DSME) is to deliver six medium-sized ships to the No. 5 global liner shipping company from 2027.
This will further increase the already bulging order book for container ships. At the end of 2024, there were orders for 8.3 million TEU – a new record compared to the previous high of 7.8 million TEU two years earlier. After the first six weeks of 2025, the global order backlog exceeded the 9 million TEU mark for the first time. The current fleet has a total capacity of 31.7 million TEU.
