As the container shipping industry enters 2026, insights published in Alphaliner’s weekly newsletter throughout January provide a clear view of how the market closed 2025 and what structural trends are shaping the year ahead. Fleet expansion, asset values, environmental technology adoption, and demolition activity all point to an industry that remains active, capital-intensive, and highly concentrated.
Below is a summary of the most important container shipping developments reported in January 2026, reflecting fleet data and market conditions observed through the end of 2025.
MSC Further Widened the Capacity Gap in 2025
Analysis published in January confirms that MSC once again expanded faster than any other major container carrier during 2025. Among the twelve carriers each controlling more than 1 percent of global liner capacity, combined fleet size increased 7.3 percent year-on-year, equivalent to 2.14 million TEU.
MSC alone contributed 831,400 TEU, accounting for 39 percent of that growth. The carrier expanded its fleet by 11.7 percent during 2025, widening the gap to second-ranked Maersk to 2.5 million TEU, up from 1.9 million TEU a year earlier.
This performance followed a multi-year trend. MSC was already the fastest-growing major carrier in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 2025, expansion was driven primarily by 54 newbuilding deliveries, adding 695,185 TEU, alongside continued acquisitions in the second-hand market.
Other carriers posting above-average growth in 2025 included PIL, HMM, Evergreen, and Wan Hai Lines, while ZIM was the only top-ten carrier to reduce capacity, following several years of aggressive expansion.
Although CMA CGM continued to close the gap with Maersk in absolute capacity terms, Alphaliner does not expect a ranking change between the two carriers during 2026 based on existing orderbooks.
Second-Hand Sale and Purchase Market Remained Resilient in 2025
Despite uncertainty around future overcapacity, the container ship sale and purchase market proved resilient throughout 2025. Data reviewed in January shows that 332 fully cellular container ships totaling 859,000 TEU were sold for further trading during the year, closely matching 2024 transaction volumes.
While activity remained well below the exceptional peak of 2021, market conditions favored sellers. Demand for charter-free tonnage remained strong, prices stayed firm, and the pool of available ships remained limited.
The most active segment was 900–2,000 TEU, where 162 vessels changed hands, up significantly from 2024. Ships in the 2,000–5,100 TEU range also saw strong demand, while activity above 10,000 TEU remained limited.
Overall, the January assessment confirms that asset values stayed supported throughout 2025, even as freight markets softened in the second half of the year.
Scrubber Uptake Slowed as Fuel Price Incentives Weakened
Data published in January 2026 shows that scrubber adoption reached a record high, while its growth rate slowed sharply. As of 20 January 2026, 42 percent of the global cellular container fleet was fitted with scrubbers, equal to 1,543 vessels and 13.9 million TEU.
The slowdown reflects several converging factors. Alternative-fuel newbuildings continue to enter the fleet, environmental regulations are tightening, and the fuel price spread between heavy fuel oil and low sulphur fuels declined for the third consecutive year.
In Rotterdam, the average fuel price delta in 2025 fell to $56 per metric ton, down from $79 in 2024 and 100 USD in 2023. This represented the lowest annual average since IMO sulphur limits were introduced in 2020.
Regulatory initiatives such as FuelEU Maritime and the "Fit for 55" framework further reduce the long-term attractiveness of scrubbers by penalizing higher overall emissions linked to increased energy consumption.
Container Ship Demolition Fell to a Twenty-Year Low in 2025
One of the clearest signals of market strength in 2025 was the exceptionally low level of demolition activity. According to Alphaliner’s January review, only twelve container ships totaling 8,172 TEU were scrapped during the year, the lowest level in two decades.
This compared sharply with both 2024 and historical peaks such as 2016. Strong charter demand and attractive earnings encouraged owners to keep even older vessels trading rather than sending them for recycling.
Most demolition activity involved small ships below 1,000 TEU, with an average scrapping age of 30 years. Demolition prices softened slightly in the Indian Subcontinent during 2025 but remained historically strong, closing the year at $400–$430 per LDT, while Turkey stabilized around $270–$290 per LDT.
Stay On Top Of All Market News
Based on findings from Alphaliner’s Weekly Newsletter, the container shipping developments reported in January 2026 highlight how firmly the industry closed 2025.
Fleet growth remained concentrated among the largest carriers, asset markets stayed active, environmental investment decisions evolved, and demolition activity virtually stalled.
Together, these trends suggest that the container shipping sector entered 2026 with high asset utilization and strong structural momentum, even as market participants remain cautious about the balance between new deliveries, regulation, and demand growth in the year ahead.
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