Most of the top 10 carriers in the transatlantic trade reduced capacity
Most of the top 10 container shipping companies in the transatlantic trade reduced their capacity over the past year. While MSC increased its market share, low freight rates and high chartering costs led to the closure of some services.
Alphaliner identified 189 container ships operating on services connecting Northern and Southern Europe with Canada, the United States, and the U.S. Gulf region in July.
The total capacity of these vessels was recorded at 1,119,150 TEU. This figure represents a slight decrease of 0.4% compared with July last year. Only three of the top 10 carriers increased their capacity compared with July 2025.
Low ocean freight rates and high vessel chartering costs forced Hapag-Lloyd to close its Northern Europe – U.S. East Coast – Central America “Caribbean Express Service (CES)” service. The service was withdrawn in December.
Another major rationalization on the Northern Europe – U.S. trade was the closure of the Northern Europe – South Atlantic “AT2 / TAE2” service jointly operated by ONE and Evergreen. The service was part of the services offered under the Vessel Sharing Agreement between the OCEAN Alliance (CMA CGM, COSCO SHIPPING Lines/OOCL, Evergreen) partners and ONE.
Six of the top 10 carriers in the transatlantic trade reduced their capacities over the past 12 months, while Grimaldi-controlled Atlantic Container Line (ACL) kept its fleet of five con-ro vessels unchanged.
There was no change in the ranking of the four largest carriers. MSC continued to increase its market share, from 41.8% last year to 44.2% in our latest count. The Geneva-based company’s 69 vessels in service had a total capacity of 529,340 TEU, while second-placed Hapag-Lloyd had a capacity of 176,000 TEU.
