Shipowners flood market with 102 new container orders in early 2026

This brings the total order book to 1,350 ships and 11.8 million TEU.

Shipowners have ordered another 102 ships with a combined capacity of 665,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in the first two months of the year, according to BIMCO.

This brings the total order book to 1,350 ships and 11.8 million TEU, an increase of 28% year on year.

During the past year, the order books for the 0-3k TEU, 3-6k TEU and 6-8k TEU size segments have all more than doubled, whilst the rest have grown by only 17%.

The increasing number of very large ships on order is also driving a significant change in the container fleet’s ownership structure.