The 25 biggest world operators of maritime containers transport lost market share during 2009, however, they still have the majority, not only in number of units but also, and especially, the transport capacity.
On the start of 2010, the 25 biggest world players operated a fleet of 3,196 ships, with a transport capacity of 11.26 million TEU. These figures mean they had 54.2% of the fleet in operation and 82.6% of the transport capacity in number of TEU.
This position can not be refuted; however, it’s the worst result of the last three years.
Regarding 2009, the figures of the beginning of the current year represent a loss of 7.4% in the number of operated ships, and an increase of 1.7% in the transport capacity, which must be due to the use of bigger ships.
In the beginning of 2009, the 25 TOP operated 3,452 ships, with a capacity of 11.1 million TEU. This means they controlled then 56.9% of the operating ships and 85% of the world capacity.
Still, the progression verified along 2009 was much more moderate than the one occurred in 2008. This somewhat confirms that not even the biggest players stayed immune to the crisis.
Truly speaking, along 2008 the fleet controlled by the “TOP 25” lines increased its fleet from 3,324 to 3,452 ships (3.9% more), and its transport capacity went up 10.9%, from 9.99 millions to 11.1 million TEU. Consequently, they have increased its market share, measured in number of ships, from 56.2% to 56.9%, keeping almost unaltered the capacity “share” (85.1% in the beginning of 2008; 85% in the start of 2009).