Top 10 International Container

Shipping Companies
Looking for an international shipping company? The companies listed
below are the 20 largest international shipping companies in the world.
If youre moving internationally and would like to compare companies,
please use the form above.

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The biggest companies are based on data from Alphaliner, which keeps
track of the capacity of world container ship fleets based on twenty-foot
equivalent units (TEUs). Basically, this is how many twenty-foot shipping
containers a company can carry at any given moment.
Weve also included data about where companies are based, when they
were founded, their total worldwide revenues and the number of
employees.

1. A.P. MollerMaersk Group

TEU: 3,012,172
HQ: Copenhagen Denamrk
Founded: 1904
Revenue: $40.3 Billion (USD)
Employees: 89,000
A.P. MollerMaersk Groups largest operating unit is Maersk Line, the
worlds largest overseas cargo and freight carrier. They have 324 offices in
115 countries worldwide and operate 590 container ships.
They estimate they ship $675 billion worth of good each year, almost as
much as the GDP of Switzerland. Their Triple-E vessels can hold 18,000
twenty-foot containers and their current fleet has 5 of these vessels in active
service.

2. Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC)

TEU: 2,659,489
HQ: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: 1970
Revenue: $28.2 Billion (USD)
Employees: 24,000
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) is the largest privately
owned shipping company in the world. They have 480 offices in 150
countries around the globe and call at a total of 315 different ports.
Their total fleet consists of 480 container vessels including the 4 largest
container ships in the world, each of which can handle over 19,000 twenty-
foot containers.
3. CMA CGM Group

TEU: 1,799,291
HQ: Marseille, France
Founded: 1978
Revenue: $15.7 Billion (USD)
Employees: 22,000
CMA CGM Group is the worlds third largest shipping company. They
have a fleet of 471 vessels that call at 420 ports in 160 countries. In total they
have 765 offices around the globe.
Their largest ship is the CMA CGM Georg Forster which can handle 18,000
twenty-foot containers. Their name is an French acronym which stands for
Maritime Freighting Company General Maritime Company.

4. China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company

(COSCO)

TEU: 1,539,618
HQ: Beijing, China
Founded: 1961
Revenue: $10.2 billion USD
Employees: 130,000
Following its takeover of China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL), COSCO
is now the worlds 4th largest shipping company, the largest shipping
company outside of Europe and one of only 4 companies that has a total
capacity above 1 million TEU.
COSCO now owns 5 of the top 10 biggest container ships, each of which is
able to handle 19,000 twenty foot containers. In total the group has 1114
vessels of which 285 are container ships.

5. Evergreen Marine

TEU: 929,700
HQ: Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Founded: 1968
Revenue: $4.6 billion USD
Employees: 3,389
Evergreen Marines, Evergreen Line is the worlds 5th largest container
shipping company. They currently operate over 190 ships, which call at 240
ports worldwide in 80 different countries.
Their largest ships are the 8,500 TEU L-type container ship which are
considerably smaller than the biggest ships from competing firms.
However, they have adapted them to reduce fuel consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions.

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6. Hapag-Lloyd

TEU: 916,439
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Founded: 1847
Revenue: $12 billion USD (estimate)
Employees: 9,500
Hapang-LLoyd operate 175 modern container ships that call at 350 ports in
117 different countries worldwide. Each year they ship the 7.5 million TEU
worth of containers.
In December 2014 they merged with Chiles CSAV to form one of the
largest shipping companies in the world. Their biggest ships are capable of
carrying 13,000 TEU worth of containers.

7. Hamburg Sd Group

TEU: 646,918
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Founded: 1871
Revenue: $6.9 billion USD
Employees: 5,360
Hamburg Sd was originally founded to help Hamburg merchants trade
with Argentina and Brazil. Its now grown into one of the worlds largest
private shipping companies with 133 ships in its fleet.
It also owns Brazils Aliana which sails under the flag of Brazil. The
company has won many awards and is focusing on ways to reduce its
environmental impact.

8. Hanjin Shipping
TEU: 621,243
HQ: Seoul, South Korea
Founded: 1977
Revenue: $8.3 billion (USD)
Employees: 5,800
Hanjin Shipping is South Koreas largest shipping company and its fleet
consist of around 170 container ships and bulk carriers. It has 4 regional
Headquarters and 12 container terminals in the worlds largest ports.
Each year the company moves over 100 million tons of cargo. Its largest
ships can carry just over 13,000 TEU, owning 8 of these in total. Like the
rest of the worlds large container shipping companies Hanjin Shipping is
also focusing on corporate social responsibility by trying to be more green.

9. Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL)

TEU: 565,113
HQ: Hong Kong
Founded: 1969
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: Unknown
OOCL has 320 offices in over 70 countries and operates over 300 ships. In
addition to shipping the company also operates 2 important Container
Terminals: Long Beach Container Terminal, LLC. (LBCT LLC) and
Kaohsiung Container Terminal (KAOCT).
Beyond its core business the company is working to reduce its
environmental impact through the use of IT and helping support the
children of employees via a university scholarship program.

10. United Arab Shipping Company (UASC)

TEU: 564,117
HQ: Dubai, U.A.E.
Founded: 1976
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: Unknown
Originally founded in Kuwait, the company was originally set-up as joint
venture between Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and U.A.E.
Today the company is based in the UAE and has 185 offices around the
world, covering 240 ports.
While currently only the 10th biggest shipper in the world they are looking
to aggressively grow their fleet with 6 18,800 TEU ships (among the biggest
in the world) currently on order.

11. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL)

TEU: 544,817
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1884
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: 10,508
MOL is the largest and oldest of Japans international shipping companies.
In total they operate 896 vessels and have ordered 6 new container ships
that will be able to handle 20,150 TEUs each.
There are a total of 441 MOL group companies including energy
companies, passenger liners, financial services and container terminals.

12. American President Lines (APL)

TEU: 531,805
HQ: Singapore
Founded: 1848
Revenue: $5.4 billion
Employees: 4,300
APL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient
Lines. It now offers 90 weekly services and calls at ports in over 50
countries worldwide.
It also operates the following marine terminals: Dutch Harbor (Alaska),
Oakland (US), San Pedro (US), Seattle (US) and Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Kobe
(Japan), Yokohama (Japan), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Laem Chabang
(Thailand), Qingdao (China) and Nhava Sheva (India).

13. Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation

TEU: 520,364
HQ: Keelung, Taiwan
Founded: 1972
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: Unknown
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation currently operates 101 vessels
with container ships being the main focus. Their core values are:
Teamwork, Innovation, Honesty and Pragmatism.
They operate exclusive terminals in the following locations: Keelung,
Kaohsiung and Taipei Harbors in Taiwan; Los Angeles and Tacoma in the
United States; Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

14. Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line)

TEU: 500,359
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1885
Revenue: $20.1 billion (USD)
Employees: 33,520
NYK Line is Japans second largest shipping company based on TEU
capacity. The company was responsible for opening Japans first passenger
liner service in 1875 between Yokohama and Shanghai and by 1899 was
operating routes to London.
Today, in terms of bulk shipping, they offer: car transport, dry bulk
transport, and liquid transport (crude oil, clean petroleum, offshore energy
and LNG).

15. Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM)

TEU: 395,477
HQ: Seoul, South Korea
Founded: 1976
Revenue: $855 million (USD)
Employees: Unknown
Hyundai Merchant Marine is part of the Hyundai Group. They currently
operate 130 state-of-the-art vessels, serving 50 sea routes at over 100 ports
of call.
The company is extremely distributed with: 4 international head-quarters,
27 subsidiaries, 76 branches, 5 overseas offices and 10 liaison offices.
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16. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line)
TEU: 383,658
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1919
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: 676
K Line works with 28 (Domestic Japanese) and 307 (Overseas) affiliated
companies. It has 70 container ships in its fleet along with 375 ships for dry
bulk services and another 49 vessels in its tanker and energy transportation
fleet.
The largest ship in its fleet is the Manchester Bridge which is able to carry
14,000 TEUs. In 2014 the company initiated its Drive green project for
pursuing conservation of energy and the environment.
17. Pacific International Lines (PIL)
TEU: 347,419
HQ: Singapore
Founded: 1967
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: 18,000
PIL is the second largest shipping company based in Singapore and is one
of the largest ship-owners in Southeast Asia. They operate 164 modern
vessels that call at over 500 locations in 100 countries worldwide.
PIL container lines currently operate from the Far East to: Europe, Black
Sea, Canada, the Indian sub-continent, Red Sea/Gulf, Africa, Australia,
New Zealand, Latin America and the West Coast of USA.
18. Zim
TEU: 338,754
HQ: Haifa, Israel
Founded: 1945
Revenue: $3.4 billion USD
Employees: 4200
Zim Integrated Shipping Services is the largest shipping company in Israel.
In 2014 they carried 2,360,000 million TEUs, using their fleet of 80 vessels.
Zim calls at over 180 ports of call throughout the world, and offers 70 lines
and services. In reccent years theyve been expanding into China with 1 0
offices and hundreds of employees and are also investing in IT, spending
over $100 million in recent years.
19. Wan Hai Lines
TEU: 225,087
HQ: Taiwan
Founded: 1965
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: Unknown
Wan Hai Lines was originally founded as a log transportation company but
since 1976 has transformed itself into a full-container vessel shipping
company.
Wan Hai is the only carrier in Taiwan with exclusive terminals in the
northern, central and southern regions of the island (Keelung, Taichung
and Kaohsiung). It currently operates 20 routes of which 15 call at major
international commercial ports.
20. X-Press Feeders Group
TEU: 142,349
HQ: Singapore
Founded: 1972
Revenue: Unknown
Employees: 260
X-Press Feeders claims to be the largest independent common carrier in the
world. They operate throughout Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean, Central
America, Mediterranean and North Europe.
In 2015 their annual throughput was estimated to be 4.8 million TEUs.
What sets them apart is that they do not own, lease or operate any
containers and provides transportation services only to container
operators.