A new sheriff in town ? sort of

A new sheriff in town à sort of    Liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. has overtaken Maersk Line as the world's biggest single line as measured by fleet capacity, according to a report Wednesday by Containerisation International.
   The report said MSC, a privately owned line based in Switzerland, now operates 1.84 million TEUs of capacity, compared to Maersk’s 1.83 million TEUs. However, Maersk Line is still the world’s largest when its subsidiary lines Safmarine and MCC Transport are taken into account. The maritime news service Alphaliner pegs the Maersk Group’s current capacity at 2.16 million TEUs and MSC’s at 1.92 million TEUs. CI is reporting the Maersk Group’s fleet size is 9 percent larger than MSC’s, while Alphaliner pegs it at 12.5 percent.
   What is in little doubt is that MSC is catching up to the Maersk, and quickly. According to CI, Maersk’s capacity edge over MSC was 41 percent in 2005 (after it acquired P&O Nedlloyd) and 20 percent as recently as September 2010. But MSC is midway through a vessel acquisition spree and has further added to its fleet in recent months through charter contracts at favorable rates. Alphaliner projects MSC to just about catch Maersk if both the lines’ full order books are delivered. The Maersk Group would be left with fleet capacity of 2.47 million TEUs and MSC 2.46 million TEUs.
   As the CI report points out, Maersk has grown in recent years largely due to acquisitions, while MSC’s growth has been organic. However, little is known about MSC’s financial position — the company fiercely protects its privacy, rarely speaking in public — while Maersk is required to release financial data because it is a publicly owned company.
   Either way, the top two lines are moving at pace away from the rest of the chasing pack. Even third place CMA CGM, with 1.23 million TEUs of current fleet capacity and another 260,219 TEUs on order, lags well behind. In fact, the current joint fleet capacity share of Maersk and MSC nearly matches that of the next six biggest operators.