The container shipbuilding market has recently recorded a remarkable shift when new orders mainly focus on small and medium-sized ships, especially from non-vessel operators.

Hapag-Lloyd is preparing to complete an order for 22 new vessels with a capacity of 1,800 – 4,500 TEU to replace the old fleet. CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said that the increase in transportation demand by about 3% per year will support the market to absorb new ships, while the elimination of old ships will help reduce oversupply pressure. Braemar forecasts the global container fleet to grow by about 7% this year, but fluctuations in the Red Sea route have helped the forecast oversupply in 2025 drop from 13% to about 4%.

 
According to Alphaliner, Evergreen and CMA CGM continue to order new vessels on a large scale. Evergreen split orders for 14 14,000 TEU vessels for factories in China and South Korea, while CMA CGM placed 10 22,000 TEU vessels in Dalian (China). These are all expansion orders, because the general trend is that the new generation ships are larger in size, while the majority of small-sized ships have been in operation for a long time but still play an important role in the feeder network.

In addition to large carriers, many independent ship owners also promote investment. Hai An Shipping (Vietnam) currently operates 9 vessels of 800 – 1,800 TEU size and has ordered two more 7,100 TEU vessels, two 3,000 TEU vessels, and expansion options. This unit also owns and leases 18 small and medium-sized ships. In Germany, Bunnemann added two 7,100 TEU vessels built at DSIC, bringing the total number of Sealion-class vessels leased to CMA CGM to eight. MPC Container Ships also chose the 4,300 TEU Sealion design in its four-ship 4,500 TEU order at Jiangsu Hantong.

Alphaliner said the new 3,500-4,500 TEU models are now suitable for the needs of Hapag-Lloyd, which is looking for long-term ownership or lease options and is likely to have reserved seats at CIMC Raffles and Taizhou Sanfu.

The market also saw expansion from Greek shipowners. Danaos is looking to buy six 1,800 TEU vessels – possibly CIMC's Bangkokmax line – bringing the total number of ships on order to 23. Conbulk also signed a contract to build two 5,000 TEU vessels at Yangzhou Guoyu (China).