Top 10 carriers send bigger ships to West Africa and Middle East/ISC
The ranking of the ten major trade lanes according to average ship size not surprisingly shows that the Far East – North Europe route remains number one with the largest vessels. The average for the Top 10 carriers stands at 18,018 teu, and 133 ‘Megamax’ ships of over 18,000 teu are currently active there.
This however is a slight drop on a year ago, when there were 144 ‘Megamaxes’. This slight decline in average vessel size (-1.9%) is mainly due to MSC’s decision to start shifting 24,000 teu ships to the Far East – West Africa trade. The average vessel size on that North South route jumped from 6,343 teu to 8,127 teu (+28.1%), bringing this route for the first time into the list of the ten trading routes with the biggest ships.
A further increase in the average size is expected as MSC is still busy switching more 24,000 teu units from Far East – North Europe, having replaced them with 14,000 – 16,000 teu ships.
The Europe – Middle East – ISC route is another trade where ports have witnessed the arrival of bigger ships from Gemini Cooperation, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and COSCO SHIPPING Lines. Some 41 units of over 12,500 teu are deployed on dedicated services between Europe and the ME/ISC, compared to only 20 a year ago.
Source: Alphaliner
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