In its weekly newsletter Alphaliner said that MSC was reported to have purchased six vessels in recent days, Seatrade reports.
The latest acquisitions bring the total capacity acquired on the secondhand market by MSC in recent years to 1.2m TEU, a figure which alone would be equivalent to the world’s eighth largest container line sat between Ocean Network Express (ONE) with a 1.53m teu capacity fleet and HMM with a 816,000 teu capacity fleet.
The latest acquisitions are reported to include the 8,144 Maersk Surabaya, and the 5,570 Maersk Yamuna; the 5,364 teu vessels Ever Unific and Ever Uberty; the 4,506 teu Co Nagoya; and the 4,045 Pohorje.
Alphaliner highlighted the purchase of the 1999-built pair of vessels from Evergreen which had been expected to be sold for scrap.
As of 5 April Alphaliner said MSC’s fleet consists of 743 vessels on the water with an aggregate capacity of 4.84m teu, an 18.2% share of total market capacity. The container line has a major newbuilding programme with a further 127 ships with a combined capacity of 1.7m teu on order, equivalent to 35.1% of its current fleet.