The global fleet of ‘megamax’ container vessels at the end of last month breached the 4.00 Mteu mark in terms of overall capacity and it currently stands at 4.01 Mteu.
No fewer than 186 ships of the ‘MGX-24’ and the slightly smaller ‘MGX-23’ variety are currently in service, with 43 more ships and 1.25 Mteu on order.
Over the past few years, ‘megamax’ ships have become the backbone of the Asia – Europe trade, slowly but surely displacing neo-panamax vessels from the top-tier liner services.
First introduced by Maersk in 2013, when the 18,340 teu MAERSK McKINNEY MOLLER joined the fleet, ‘megamax’ capacity reached 1.00 Mteu in April 2017, 2.00 Mteu in July 2019, and 3.00 Mteu in Oct 2021.
From now on however, the next milestone is only expected for mid-2028 since the pace of orders for ‘megamax’ ships has slowed down.
Source: Alphaliner
