Maersk, the world’s second-largest container shipping line and a Danish shipping giant, is pushing the limits of its container fleet’s capacity and restarting its fleet expansion plan. Chinese shipyards are expected to be the biggest winners in this round of major container ship orders.
According to TradeWinds, Maersk has announced plans to build 42 new liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel container ships, with the order valued at an estimated $8.9 billion. All vessels will be large or ultra-large container ships, specifically: 12 24,000-TEU ultra-large container ships, 24 19,000-TEU large container ships, and 6 18,600-TEU large container ships.
Only one South Korean shipbuilder (Hanwha Ocean) is participating in Maersk’s planned order for 24,000-TEU ultra-large container ships, and it will compete against several Chinese shipyards for the contract. If the order is finalized, these will be the largest container ships Maersk has ever ordered.
In addition, Maersk’s current shipbuilding project involves 24 large 19,000-TEU container ships, with an order size of 12+12 vessels; negotiations are reportedly underway with Hengli Heavy Industries. Hengli Heavy Industries has won Maersk’s favor because it can offer earlier delivery dates.
The six 18,600-TEU large container ships are most likely the optional orders currently held by New Times Shipbuilding. In February 2026, Maersk signed a contract with New Times Shipbuilding for the construction of 8+6 18,600 TEU container ships; if the 6 optional vessels are confirmed, the total number of ships of the same type to be built under this partnership will increase to 14. Recently, New Times Shipbuilding has signed a main engine order with South Korean engine manufacturer STX Engine for this batch of new vessels.
Based on currently available information, it is highly likely that this massive container ship order from Maersk will be entirely fulfilled by Chinese shipyards, which aligns with Maersk’s shipbuilding strategy in recent years; since 2024, Maersk has increasingly favored Chinese shipyards for its shipbuilding projects.
From an overall market perspective, the trend of container ship orders flowing to Chinese shipyards is no longer a novelty. In the first half of 2026, global shipowners placed orders for a total of 388 container ships, with Chinese shipyards securing over 80% of these newbuild orders. During the same period, South Korean shipyards accounted for only 10–15% of container ship orders.
Container shipowners’ preference for Chinese shipyards is largely related to delivery schedules. Leveraging their production capacity advantages, Chinese shipyards are able to deliver vessels earlier; in contrast, South Korean shipyards face capacity constraints when constructing multiple vessel types simultaneously.
Furthermore, Chinese shipyards’ ongoing refinement and optimization of research, development, and construction technologies in the field of environmentally friendly dual-fuel container ships is also one of the key factors attracting container shipowners to place orders.
Maersk’s high-profile ship orders mark a shift in the shipping giant’s decade-long logistics integration strategy. Maersk’s original strategy focused on diversifying its logistics operations to reduce exposure to the volatile freight market, but as the global supply chain landscape has rapidly evolved, the company has refocused on its core competency: ocean shipping.
Maersk stated that as post-pandemic ocean freight rates returned to normal, the profitability of its land and air logistics divisions failed to effectively offset the volatility of ocean shipping as expected. Instead, bloated organizational structures and infrastructure maintenance costs became a burden, causing Maersk to keenly feel the limitations of its integrated logistics strategy.
Maersk determined that, rather than pursuing diversified, large-scale expansion in logistics operations, it would be better to maximize operational efficiency in its core business. Consequently, Maersk formally began expanding the size of its container shipping fleet. Maersk’s goal is to move away from a model centered on being a comprehensive logistics integrator and to expand the capacity and growth potential of its core container shipping business.
Under the influence of its integrated logistics strategy, even during the shipping boom of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maersk chose to maintain a conservative approach by keeping its fleet size between 4 million and 4.4 million TEUs, with new ship orders limited to replacing aging vessels rather than adding net capacity.
As of now, Maersk’s fleet consists of 752 container ships with a total capacity of nearly 4.75 million TEU. Years of capacity restraint have pushed Maersk’s “existing fleet to its capacity limits.” To ensure it has the capacity needed to support business growth, Maersk has now completely abandoned its fleet size cap and adopted an aggressive expansion strategy.
Maersk’s comprehensive overhaul of its decade-long fleet management strategy is also driven by pressure from competitors catching up.
In early 2022, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) surpassed Maersk to become the world’s largest container shipping company; at that time, both shipowners each controlled a capacity of slightly over 4.2 million TEU.
After four years of fleet expansion, MSC’s container ship capacity has reached nearly 7.4 million TEU, far surpassing Maersk, which currently ranks second; the capacity gap between the two shipowners has widened to approximately 2.7 million TEU.
In addition to the widening gap with MSC, the world’s No. 1 carrier, CMA CGM—the world’s third-largest container shipping line—has announced that, thanks to its large-scale new vessel orders, it “will surpass Maersk by 2027 to become the world’s No. 2 player.
Data shows that CMA CGM’s container fleet capacity is approximately 4.4 million TEU, with a capacity gap of about 350,000 TEU compared to Maersk. Meanwhile, CMA CGM and Maersk have order books totaling approximately 1.7 million TEU and 1.2 million TEU, respectively. This means that once all vessels in the order books are delivered, CMA CGM will surpass Maersk to become the world’s second-largest container shipping line.
Facing both internal and external challenges, Maersk has abandoned its previously conservative shipbuilding strategy and announced in a single move that it will order 42 large and ultra-large container ships.