SSMR Vol. 04: World Container Shipping – Fleet Growth Becomes the Key Market Driver

The container shipping market continues to benefit from relatively stable transport demand, while the rapid expansion of the fleet is increasingly becoming the dominant factor shaping future market developments. After a period of recovery in container traffic, the supply side has grown sharply, with the containership orderbook reaching levels last seen before the financial crisis in 2008.

At the beginning of 2026, the orderbook exceeded 12 million TEU, compared with 7.8 million TEU at the previous peak in August 2023 - around 38% of the active fleet. Fleet capacity increased further to 33.1 million TEU, up 7.1% compared with the previous year and almost 29% above the level at the beginning of 2023. The still high level of deliveries is also reflected in the limited number of vessels leaving the market. In 2025, only 10 containerships with a combined capacity of 5,000 TEU were demolished, compared with 83,000 TEU in 2024 and 150,000 TEU in 2023, as older vessels continue to sail, supported by high charter rates and rerouted services.

Despite the significant increase in available tonnage, container trade remained comparatively resilient. Volumes increased by 3% in 2025, supported mainly by Far East-Europe, intra-Asia and North-South routes. According to the latest data from ISL’s Port Database, global container throughput increased by 6.0% in 2025 to around 841 million TEU in the ports covered by the Port database, following a recovery of 9% in 2024 that followed the stagnation from 2022 to 2023. The RWI/ISL Container Throughput Index confirms the stable development of global container traffic, with the index increasing only slightly from 140.8 in December 2025 to 141.2 in April 2026.Regional developments, however, remained uneven. In the United States, throughput recovered to 59 million TEU in 2025, only slightly below the record figure of 60.1 million TEU in 2022. While container throughput in the European Union decreased by 0.3%, China recorded growth of 6.1%. Malaysia and Vietn nam showed stronger increases of 7.5% and 10%, respectively, reflecting the continued shift of some trade flows within Asia.

ISL SSMR 2026-4 highlights the current developments around container shipping. It is available via download from our webshop and will be sent to our subscribers shortly.