…The Global Liner Rankings have seen another slight change, likely temporary, with Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE) swapping places with Taiwan’s Evergreen.

London - ONE has built an approximate 8,000 slot lead over Evergreen this month to push into sixth place in the carrier rankings tracked by Alphaliner.

Nevertheless, Evergreen’s sizeable orderbook is expected to see it jump back ahead of ONE again soon, and possibly even challenge Hapag-Lloyd for fifth spot.

Looking at defending its fifth spot, Hapag-Lloyd is understood to be one of four parties to have lodged a bid for South Korean flagship, HMM, which state creditors are looking to sell by the end of this year.

The global top ten carrier rankings have undergone some changes in the last couple of years.

Whereas up to the start of 2021, there were three distinct groups – a top four, a middling threesome and three sub-1m slot carriers propping up the leaderboard, this has changed considerably in the last two and a half years. Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), which overturned Maersk’s quarter-century tenure at the top of the rankings at the start of 2021, is now out on its own, more than 1m slots away from the Danish carrier, which is on track to be overtaken by France’s CMA CGM soon. COSCO, in fourth spot, meanwhile, has lost its touching distance with the podium since 2021.