List of the world’s top 20 leading container ship operators, 2016

The list represents a ranking of the world’s top 20 leading container ship operators as of May 25, 2016, based on existing fleet and number of ships in their order books – an overview of the top worldwide shipping lines. The data was compiled by Alphaliner, the global information platform watching world’s shipping lines and collects statistics of all shipping lines. Around 90 percent of world trade is carried by the international shipping industry.

As of today, there there are 6,118 ships trading internationally, transporting every kind of cargo. Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk tops the list with 613 ships, Mediterranean Shipping Company, based in Geneva, Switzerland, comes 2nd with 490 ships, with France’s CMA CGM standing in the third place with 449 ships.

List of the world’s top 20 leading container ship operators, 2016

1. APM-Maersk
Owned ship: 263
Chartered ship: 350
Orderbook: 29
Total ships: 613

2. Mediterranean Shipping Company
Owned ship: 189
Chartered ship: 301
Orderbook: 37
Total ships: 490

3. CMA CGM Group
Owned ship: 87
Chartered ship: 362
Orderbook: 20
Total ships: 449

4. COSCO Container Lines
Owned ship: 86
Chartered ship: 202
Orderbook: 35
Total ships: 288

5. Evergreen Line
Owned ship: 105
Chartered ship: 80
Orderbook: 40
Total ships: 185

6. Hapag-Lloyd
Owned ship: 70
Chartered ship: 101
Orderbook: 5
Total ships: 171

7. Hamburg Süd Group
Owned ship: 44
Chartered ship: 84
Orderbook: 9
Total ships: 128

8. Hanjin Shipping
Owned ship: 37
Chartered ship: 63
Orderbook: 1
Total ships: 100

9. OOCL
Owned ship: 52
Chartered ship: 54
Orderbook: 6
Total ships: 106

10. Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.
Owned ship: 45
Chartered ship: 57
Orderbook: 9
Total ships: 102

11. United Arab Shipping Company (UASC)
Owned ship: 38
Chartered ship: 19
Orderbook: 3
Total ships: 57

12. MOL
Owned ship: 22
Chartered ship: 66
Orderbook: 6
Total ships: 88

13. APL
Owned ship: 53
Chartered ship: 33
Orderbook: 0
Total ships: 86

14. NYK Line
Owned ship: 45
Chartered ship: 52
Orderbook: 13
Total ships: 97

15. Hyundai Merchant Marine
Owned ship: 22
Chartered ship: 35
Orderbook: 2
Total ships: 57

16. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.
Owned ship: 12
Chartered ship: 57
Orderbook: 5
Total ships: 69

17. Zim Integrated Shipping Services
Owned ship: 7
Chartered ship: 72
Orderbook: 0
Total ships: 79

18. PIL (Pacific Int. Line)
Owned ship: 120
Chartered ship: 17
Orderbook: 12
Total ships: 137

19. Wan Hai Lines
Owned ship: 71
Chartered ship: 20
Orderbook: 0
Total ships: 91

20. X-Press Feeders Group
Owned ship: 22
Chartered ship: 75
Orderbook: 0
Total ships: 97