The global container fleet continues to shift strongly toward Far East–Europe services, according to industry analysts Alphaliner.
The effect of the military conflict in the Middle East on shipping is clearly visible in the global container fleet deployment per trade. Vessel capacity deployed in services to the Middle East and India is down 7.6% year-on-year.
For the other trades, we see a continuation of the trends of the previous years. The largest trade, Far East – Europe, continues to grow strongly. Capacity deployed in African services saw a spectacular 25.3% increase year-on-year. Latin America also continues to be an important growth region for liner shipping.
The capacity of the global container fleet increased 5.7% during the past twelve months to 33.9 Mteu. Between May 2025 and May 2026 another 1.84 Mteu of new teu slots were added to the fleet.
A very large part of the new capacity was absorbed by the Far East – Europe trade. An extra 667,400 teu slots were deployed on this route, representing 36% of all the newly added fleet capacity. Overall vessel capacity was up 8.5% year-on-year.
After an already impressive 11.7% increase between May 2024 and 2025, some carriers were still short of tonnage to staff all Far East – Europe loops which are deviating around the Cape of Good Hope due to the Red Sea crisis.
With 25% of the global fleet now trading there, it is by far the largest shipping lane for the liner fleet. Three years ago, the percentage stood at 20.8%. It might further increase as long as carriers cannot sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
Source: Alphaliner
