Maersk Finally Steps in To Try And Close The Gap With MSC.

Danish shipping giant Maersk Line (Maersk Line) has been actively chartering ships in the past two weeks, trying to narrow the gap with rival Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). Last year, the Mediterranean Shipping Company replaced Maersk Line as the world's largest liner company.

As charter rates continue to fall rapidly, Maersk has chartered at least six ships in the past two weeks.

Linerlytica noted that Evergreen Marine Corporation, which is also expanding its capacity, subleased one of its 13,808 TEUs, "Thalassa Elpida," to Maersk. Although Maersk will own the vessel for three months, the terms of the contract remain confidential.

Similarly, in mid-October, Yang Ming Marine subleased one of its 12,690 TEU chartered vessels to Maersk for one year at a rate of $57,000 per day.

Linerlytica said, "Maersk has been particularly active in the past week as it tries to make up lost ground with its main competitor, MSC, by shipping multiple for-load vessels to the U.S. East Coast and South America."

Other vessels recently chartered to Maersk include Zodiac Maritime's 2003-built 4,252 TEU "Nagoya Tower," which was chartered to the Danish operator at $17,000 per day for two to six months.

Japan's Tsuneishi Shipbuilding shipyard has recently received an order from Nissen Kaiun, a Japanese ship chartering company, for the construction of a 5,900 TEU four-search vessel, which the company has reportedly agreed to charter to Maersk.

The Danish operator has also been chartering feeder vessels, such as Hadley Shipping's new 1,781 TEU containership Celandine, at $12,000 per day for two to four months.

However, MSC's lead has widened again as it continues to charter and buy vessels, and its lead over Maersk remains at more than 1.3 million TEU, compared to the Danish carrier's current capacity of 4.12 million TEU.

Last week, MSC took delivery of two Panamax vessels as part of an April 2022 three-vessel, three-year charter with Costamare.

MSC also acquired the 4,600 TEU Bea Schulte vessel in a private deal with the Schulte Group and renamed the vessel MSC Lome V for its Africa service.