Many “liner newbuildings” and major purchasing tours have given the ownership structure of the global container ship fleet a new look.
The fleet of tramp shipowners, which charter their freighters to liner carriers and ranges from 700 to 9,000 TEU, has shrunk by 2.3 million TEU in recent years.
According to a recent analysis by the industry service Alphaliner, the trend began in August 2020 at the latest, when some liner shipping companies, in particular MSC and CMA CGM, began to enter the market for used container ships.
The aim was to expand their own fleets, with a particular focus on tonnage from non-operating owners (NOO). The boom in freight demand as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with favorable asset prices and the desire to exercise greater control over their fleets, were therefore the main reasons for the shipping companies’ rush for charter tonnage. Between August 2020 and the end of March 2025, more than 3.7 million TEU of NOO tonnage, around 850 vessels, were sold to lines.
This was partially offset by 1.2 million TEU of newbuilding capacity delivered to NOO during this period and 221,000 TEU of vessels purchased by lines, resulting in a net capacity loss of 400 vessels for 2.3 million TEU.
According to Alphaliner’s calculations, of the 3.7 million TEU of NOO tonnage sold, an enormous 140 ships of 5,300-9,000 TEU changed hands for a total transport capacity of 1 million TEU, 199 ships of 3,000-5,299 TEU for a total of 840,000 TEU and 201 ships of 2,000-2,999 TEU for a total of 516,000 TEU.
All NOO fleets ended this fifty-six month period with capacity losses, with the largest deficit of 673,400 TEU in the 3,000-5,299 TEU sizes, the report said. The 2,000-2,999 TEU fleet sizes also closed with a deficit of 312,300 TEU, while the 5,300-9,000 TEU segment lost 201,000 TEU.
MSC alone purchased a total of 350 NOO ships with a total volume of 1.4 million TEU in the period from August 2020 to March 2025. CMA CGM purchased 131 NOO ships for around 578,000 TEU. Together, the shipping companies have taken almost 2 million TEU of NOO capacity off the market, a figure that almost corresponds to the total deficit of the NOO fleet of 2.3 million TEU as of March 31, 2025.
The current NOO order book in the range of 700-9,000 TEU as of March 31, 2025 amounts to around 600,000 TEU. This de facto reduces the NOO fleet deficit to only 1.7 million TEU, compared to the NOO fleet level in August 2020.
“However, this is purely theoretical, as further orders for NOO tonnage can obviously be expected in the coming weeks and months, while shipping companies will probably continue to buy NOO tonnage unless there is a significant market downturn,” the analysts expect.
The expected net growth of the NOO fleet in the range of 5,300 to 9,000 TEU is assessed as “not surprising”, considering the brisk order activity in the recent past, where almost fifty vessels ranging from 7,900 to 9,000 TEU have been contracted by companies such as Seaspan, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Danaos, Capital, Navios, TMS/Economou or Peter Doehle.
“The large fleet deficits in the size classes 3,000-5,299 TEU, 2,000-2,999 TEU, 700-1,499 TEU and to a lesser extent in the 1,500-1,999 TEU segment, on the other hand, illustrate the inadequate investments made by NOOs in these size classes in recent years,” says the report.
However, some of these deficits could be partially offset or reduced in the near future, as a number of orders have been placed or are at least being negotiated. Alphaliner believes that several NOOs are in talks with Asian shipyards for newbuilding series, “which could be a sign that these previously neglected sizes are slowly gaining popularity”. Several of these newbuilding orders (or projects) are said to be secured through charter agreements with major shipping companies.
