Feature, Freight News, Logistics, Sea

Global Container Order Book Tops 11.8M TEUs

[ March 13, 2026   //   Gary Burrows ]

The global container ship order book has climbed to a record 11.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units despite falling freight rates and rising trade tensions, according to shipping association BIMCO.

The order book now totals more than 1,350 vessels, said Niels Rasmussen, reflecting continued fleet expansion by container shipowners even as market conditions soften.

Global container freight rates fell an estimated 13 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year while increases in U.S. import tariffs raised concerns about growing trade protectionism. Even so, global container volumes grew 4.7 percent year over year, according to Container Trade Statistics, and shipowners ordered a record 4.8 million TEUs of new vessel capacity during the year.

Ordering activity has continued into 2026. Shipowners placed orders for 102 vessels totaling about 665,000 TEU during the first two months of the year, pushing the total order book to 11.8 million TEUs by the end of February, up 28 percent from a year earlier.

Very large vessels dominate the pipeline. About 436 ships with capacity of 12,000 TEUs or more are on order, representing 65 percent of the total capacity currently on order.

At the same time, orders for smaller vessels have grown fastest over the past year. Order books for ships in the zero to 3,000-TEU, 3,000 to 6,000-TEU and 6,000 to 8,000-TEU segments have more than doubled, although the three categories together account for only 16 percent of their segments’ current fleet capacity.

Rasmussen said older vessels could offset some of that growth because about 29 percent of capacity in those smaller segments is provided by ships that are 20 years old or older and approaching potential recycling age.

The surge in newbuildings is also shifting fleet ownership patterns. Non operating owners controlled 43 percent of global container ship capacity at the start of the 2020s, but that share has fallen to 36 percent and could decline further because they represent only 24 percent of the capacity currently on order.

Between 2025 and 2029, shipyards are scheduled to deliver vessels totaling 11.8 million TEU. Even if all ships 22 years old or older are scrapped before the end of the decade, Rasmussen said the global fleet could still expand by an average 6.1 percent per year, potentially creating a challenging supply and demand environment for liner operators.

Tags: BIMCO, Container Trade Statistics