80% of the world's global trade is transported over the oceans. As you can imagine, that's an awful lot of cargo and containers. There are several shipping container companies that help transport this massive volume of ocean freight. In this article, we'll count down the top 10 container shipping companies down to the company that is currently the biggest shipping company in the world.

The Top 10 Largest Container Shipping Companies (by TEUs)

10) Wan Hai Lines

Located in Taiwan, Wan Hai Lines operates 146 vessels and has a TEU of 0.4M, making it the tenth-largest shipping company in the world.

9) Yang Ming

Another Taiwanese company, Yang Ming, has fewer vessels than Wan Hai Lines, with only 87 ships in their fleet. However, Yang Ming still has a slightly larger TEU, offering a capacity of 0.7m units.

8) HMM

HMM is a South Korean shipping company that owns 79 ships with a TEU of 0.8M.

7) Evergreen Marine

The third and final Taiwanese shipping company to make our list, Evergreen Marine, operates 201 ships with a TEU of 1.5M.

6) Ocean Network Express

Ocean Network Express is a Japanese shipping company that owns 218 ships and has a TEU of 1.5M.

5) Hapag-Lloyd

Halfway down our list of the largest shipping companies in the world is the German company Hapag-Lloyd. Hapag-Lloyd owns 259 ships and has a TEU of 1.7M.

4) COSCO Shipping

COSCO shipping is a Chinese shipping company that operates 497 ships with a TEU of 2.9M.

3) CMA CGM

CMA CGM is a French shipping company with 542 ships and a TEU of 3.2M.

2) Maersk

One of the world's largest shipping companies, Maersk is a Danish company that is in tight competition with the number one entry on our list for being the largest shipping company in the world. Maersk operates 718 vessels and has a TEU of 4.3M.

1) MSC

The Swiss company MSC is rounding out our list of the world's largest shipping companies. MSC operates 606 ships and has a TEU of 4.3M, making it the biggest shipping company in the world today. While this TEU is tied with Maersk, MSC was reported as having overtaken Maersk at the time of this writing.

Track any Container Shipping Company with VIZION

Sometimes bigger is better. When many shippers struggle to secure their freight capacity, working with the world's largest shipping companies can often offer its advantages.

At VIZION, our industry-leading container tracking API serves real-time status events from all major ocean carriers, providing reliable coverage for 98% of global shipments. No matter which shipping company you partner with, VIZION API offers the supply chain visibility your organization needs to thrive in these challenging times.

‍