Size of container ship fleet 2022, by nationality of operator

As of July 31, 2022, Greece operated the largest merchant fleet in terms of gross tonnage in the world. Singapore ranked second, followed with China and Japan.Container shippingIn January 2018, the global cellular container fleet had a capacity of around 21 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs. One TEU is the shipping industry’s standard unit of measure, which denotes the capacity of an ISO freight container. Such standard freight containers are also called intermodal containers because they can be transported via three different modes of transport: via sea, rail and road. Intermodal freight transport is a method that once revolutionized cargo handling by reducing the damage done to goods stored inside containers and by dramatically expediting cargo-handling operations. Some 60 years ago, cargo shipping was a lot more expensive and time consuming. As a result of the introduction of standard containers, the volume of seaborne trade has grown significantly over the past six decades. This trend can still be seen today. The tonnage of international seaborne cargo loaded in containers increased by around 833 million metric tons between 2005 and 2017.

截至2022年7月31日，希腊拥有世界上最大的商船队，就总吨位而言位居第一。新加坡紧随其后，其次是中国和日本。集装箱运输方面，至2018年1月，全球蜂窝式集装箱船队拥有约2100万标准二十英尺集装箱单位，简称TEU。一个TEU是航运业的标准计量单位，代表了一个ISO货运集装箱的容量。此类标准货运集装箱亦被称为多式联运集装箱，因其可通过三种不同的运输方式运输：海上、铁路和公路。多式联运货运是一种曾经彻底改变货物处理方式的方法，它通过减少储存在集装箱内货物的损坏程度，以及显著加速货物处理操作，极大地提高了效率。大约60年前，货物运输既昂贵又耗时。由于标准集装箱的引入，海上贸易量在过去六十年中显著增长。这一趋势至今依然可见。在2005年至2017年间，装载在国际集装箱中的国际海上货物运输总吨位增加了约8.33亿吨。