France’s CMA CGM and Taiwan’s Evergreen are reported up next as global liners swell the record boxship orderbook, taking vessels on order beyond the 9m slot mark.
Alphaliner reports that Evergreen is in the market for a new series of eleven 24,000 teu megamax vessels.
Analysts at Alphaliner are also reporting CMA CGM is close to tying up a contract with CSSC Group in China for another series of twelve 18,000 teu ships just a few days after placing firm orders for 12 compact 18,000 teu containerships with South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).
Media reported yesterday Hapag-Lloyd has returned to South Korea for six 16,800 teu vessels at Hanwha Ocean.
“Many projects remain under discussions in both South Korea and China and we expect to report the finalization of several projects in the coming weeks,” stated the latest container report from MB Shipbroking, adding: “With fairly limited demand for new tanker, gas and bulk carrier orders, a number of shipyards remain heavily focused on container newbuilding projects. As a result, we have seen a stabilization of pricing and with the slightly lower interest rates a softening of payment terms.”
At the end of 2024, the containership orderbook was 8.3m teu, a new record compared with the previous high of 7.8m teu in early 2023, according to analysis carried by BIMCO in early January.
In the opening six weeks of 2025, this record orderbook has continued to grow, and with confirmation of all the above orders the global orderbook will have surpassed 9m teu for the first time.
The extant fleet today stands at 31.7m teu. June last year saw the extant global liner vessel fleet reach 30m teu for the first time.
The pace of growth of the global container fleet has been remarkable. It took the industry around 50 years to reach the 5m teu mark in 2001. By contrast, the leap from 20m teu to 30m teu was achieved in just seven years.