|
From 1st January 2004 to 1st January 2005, the combined fleet of the Top 25
carriers has grown from 5,955,000 TEUs to 6,640,000 TEUs (+11.5 per cent).
Maersk which reached the “Million TEU Club” retained its global lead over
other operators although strongest growth was recorded by Mediterranean
Shipping Company which took the second spot ahead of Evergreen of Taiwan.
The trend toward industry concentration continued during the year.
The five largest carriers alone operate 39 per cent of the capacity
effectively deployed on liner trades, according to industry specialist BRS.
The total TEUs capacity deployed on liner trades has grown by 9.1 per cent
in 2004, reaching 8,168,000 TEUs as at 1st January 2005, against 7,485,000
TEUs one year earlier.
In deadweight terms, the figure stands at 7.5 per cent with 120 million dwt
at 1st January 2005 against 111.5 million dwt one year earlier, according to
BRS.
These figures take into account all the types of ships deployed on liner
trades (cellular, multipurpose, ro-ro).
The cellular fleet itself amounts to 7,290,000 TEUs (it represents 89.2 per
cent of the total TEUs figure deployed on liner trades).
The two largest carriers, APM-Maersk and MSC contributed to 29 per cent of
the fleet growth in TEU terms, with 197,000 TEUs out of the 683,000 TEUs
added.
APM-Maersk became last December the first TEU “millionaire”, as its fleet
reached 1,016,000 teu on 1st January 2005. APM-Maersk controls Maersk
Sealand, Safmarine, Norfolkline and APMSS-MCC. MSC comes at the second
position with 637,000 teu.
These two leaders are however not among the top teu gainers in relative
terms.
MSC grew by 18.9 per cent and APM-Maersk by 10.4 per cent.
They are distanced by four carriers (within the Top 25) which have logged
growths of 28-33 %: CSAV, CSCL, Yang Ming and CMA CGM. Outside the Top 25,
the emergence of two Chinese regional companies is worth noting: SYMS (+24.4
%) and SITC (+20.2 %). |
