It was in January 2022 that MSC overhauled Maersk's quarter-century-long position at the top of the Alphaliner-tracked global liner rankings amid an unprecedented splurge in the secondhand market as well as ordering record volumes of newbuilds.

The next three megamax newbuilds to come out of yards in China will see MSC close and ease past the current 66,000 slot gap it has with Maersk in terms of owned tonnage, as well as stretch its overall lead with the Danish carrier to more than one million TEU.

MSC also continues to populate S&P broking reports, being linked to four more secondhand ships in the last fortnight.

Last month MSC became the first liner firm in the world to operate a fleet in excess of five million TEU. Putting the landmark figure in perspective, the entire global container shipping capacity stood at five million at the turn of the millennium.

MSC has now doubled its fleet size in just eight and a half years, and a glance at its record-breaking orderbook suggests its fleet could surpass six million slots by the middle of next year.

Commenting on the fleet build-up, Peter Sand, chief analyst at freight rate platform Xeneta, said MSC's decision to go it alone once its vessel-sharing agreement with Maersk comes to an end in January 2025 has been central to its vessel acquisition strategy.