Just like in the stock market, football or the automobile industry; just like with any other activity around the globe, the world of container shipping companies also has its own ranking of the most powerful worldwide.

Since we’re talking about the activity with the biggest competition in the maritime transport sector, the ranking is thoroughly followed month after month.

In recent years, the head of the ranking has been firmly topped by the power trio Maersk- MSC-CMA. But recently, the third spot has been obtained by COSCO after the unifying effort of the Chinese Government throughout last year. This reaffirms, once again, that the only thing that is guaranteed is change.

These public rankings are based on the capacity in TEUS that each shipping group has and whether uses its own or chartered ships. The number of containers that are actually shipped is never informed.  However, it presents a solid take on the real situation of the industry.

If we take the top 20 shipping companies in the run and group them by nationality, we will find that the list is reduced to the top 11 players:

Denmark, the top player in the containerized shipping industry, has a population of 5,4 million people. Switzerland, in the second place, has a population of only 9,5 million and on top of all, it doesn’t touch the ocean for any of its 26 cantons!

On the other hand, we find some great absentees: Great Britain, with a population of 66 million, has been the great naval power of our modern history. Meanwhile, the U.S.A., with 325 million people, is the country where the multimodal container system was born and where the first container ship was promoted. However, none of these great countries was included in the current ranking, how come?