Reefer capacity among top container carriers has expanded significantly, according to industry analysts Alphaliner.
The top-10 carriers have jointly increased their reefer capacity by 7.9% since April 2025.
MSC showed the largest year-on-year growth, adding almost 100,000 reefer plugs (+15.3%). The reefer increase slightly exceeds its overall 13.1% fleet growth.
ONE is another carrier having extensively increased its reefer capacity. Growth stood at 14.5% y-o-y, which is well above its 5.9% overall fleet growth.
The main reason is the commissioning of nine 13,900 teu newbuildings with high reefer specs. Five of these new ‘S-class’ ships trade between Asia and Latin America.
Theoretically, if ONE would connect all of its 215,875 reefer slots with 40-foot reefer boxes, it could use one fifth of its overall vessel capacity for the carriage of temperature-controlled cargo.
In general, European carriers such as Maersk (23.8%) or CMA CGM (23.5%) have percentagewise more reefer capacity compared to Asian competitors such as COSCO (16.4%) or Yang Ming (16.2%).
Source: Alphaliner
