The World’s Largest Shipping Companies

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The business of importing and exporting goods would be nonexistent without shipping companies. These are the corporations that provide fleets large enough to take goods across oceans and around the world. While there are literally thousands of shipping companies across the world, there are only a few that can claim the title of biggest, most successful shipping companies in the world.

NYK

Before NYK was a shipping company it was in the business of passenger ships. Today, it’s one of the oldest shipping companies in the world, having been around since 1870. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s that the company decided to break into the market of shipping containers instead of passenger ships.

Evergreen Marine Corporation

Evergreen Marine is a Chinese-based company with more than 160 container ships in its impressive fleet. The company is based in China, and its corporate offices are housed there, but the company does have offices in major cities all over the world. With a market cap of $58.7 billion, its value speaks for the success of the company.

CMA-CMG

CMA-CMG was created back in 1978, and while that might make you think that this is a young corporation, it is not. This company is a number of other, older, more established shipping companies all rolled into one. With more than 350 ships and routes to more than 150 companies, the merger of these companies was clearly one of the most successful business mergers in history. When you consider CMA-CMG has a market cap of $182.5 billion, it becomes apparent what was so successful about this major merger.

MSC

MSC is one of the youngest shipping fleets on the list of biggest companies in the world. It’s been around for just over 40 years, which is comparatively less than the companies that were founded in the beginning of the last century. MSC stands for Mediterranean Shipping Company. It originates from Switzerland, and MSC’s fleet includes more than 450 ships. The company is a private one, and their financial data is released by the company quarterly.

Maersk

Maersk is the biggest shipping company in the world. Located in Denmark, this company has more than 500 ships with containers that transport just about any type of goods you could imagine. The company is valuable, and it has a market cap of $286.9 billion. The company has been involved in the shipping industry since the early 1900s, starting off as a small company that continuously grew into what it is today.

(Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Written by Tiffany Raiford

Tiffany Raiford is a lifelong Floridian, wife to my high school sweetheart and mother of four littles (two girls and boy/girl twins...no, they are not identical and yes, I'm sure). My kids love to whine, so I love to wine. My loves include nap time, bed time, date night, travel and evenings and weekends when my husband is home because he handles all diaper changes.