The Biggest Container Ship in the World in 2026

How the largest container ships compare

The table compares selected vessels from major ultra-large container ship series, ordered by published nominal TEU capacity. It includes earlier record holders to show how the fleet developed. Sister ships are not listed individually, so this is a comparison of representative vessels, not an exhaustive ranking of the ten largest individual ships.

TEU means twenty-foot equivalent unit: a standard 40-foot container counts as two TEU. Capacity figures describe container space, not cargo weight or the number of physical boxes loaded on a particular voyage.

MSC Irina and the shared capacity record

MSC Irina’s 24,346 TEU puts it 134 TEU above CMA CGM Notre Dame and 158 TEU above OOCL Spain. These are small differences within a group of ships built around a roughly 400-metre hull. A higher position in the table does not necessarily mean a visibly longer vessel.

The shared record also matters. When MSC Loreto called at Antwerp in May 2023, the port authority explicitly identified it as sharing the largest-container-ship title with MSC Irina. Counting every sister ship separately would fill much of a capacity ranking with very similar vessels.

In June 2025, MSC Irina called at Vizhinjam in southern India. Adani’s announcement described the visit as a demonstration of the port’s ability to handle ultra-large container vessels. For a ship of this size, suitable terminals determine which ports can become direct calls on an Asia–Europe service.

CMA CGM Notre Dame adds a new LNG flagship

CMA CGM took delivery of Notre Dame in May 2026. The carrier specifies a capacity of 24,212 TEU, a length of 400 metres and a width of 62 metres. The ship is the first of a planned ten-vessel series under the French flag, assigned to the group’s French Asia Line network.

Reporting from its inauguration in Le Havre on 2 July, Euronews described the world’s largest LNG-powered container ship and a planned Asia–Europe round trip of just over 100 days. That is the duration of the service rotation, not a transit-time promise for every shipment aboard.

The fuel distinction needs similar care. LNG can reduce some exhaust pollutants compared with conventional marine fuel, but unburned methane can erode its climate advantage, as Euronews noted. The description “LNG-powered” is therefore more precise than an unqualified claim that the vessel is clean or carbon neutral.

Notre Dame’s nominal capacity is about 0.6% below MSC Irina’s. Its position in the fleet is better understood through its propulsion system and service deployment than through that narrow capacity gap alone.

OOCL Spain and OOCL Wisdom follow different fuel paths

OOCL Spain entered the carrier’s fleet in 2023 with 24,188 TEU of capacity. Its official particulars give a length of 399.99 metres and a beam of 61.3 metres. The vessel was built by Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering, known as NACKS.

Three years later, OOCL Wisdom introduced methanol dual-fuel capability at almost the same scale. Its 24,168 TEU capacity is just 20 TEU lower than Spain’s; both have the same published length and beam. Wisdom’s main engines, auxiliary engines and boilers have methanol dual-fuel systems. OOCL’s naming announcement and vessel particulars establish the comparison.

On 3 July 2026, the company reported Wisdom’s first green methanol bunkering and the start of its maiden voyage from Qingdao, with deployment on the Asia–North Europe LL1 service. OOCL’s operational update.

Fuel capability and fuel use are separate questions. That first bunkering is evidence of a specific operation; it should not be read as a guarantee that every subsequent voyage uses the same fuel mix.

ONE Innovation separates a loading record from ship capacity

ONE Innovation has a nominal capacity of 24,136 TEU. Japan Marine United delivered it at Kure on 2 June 2023, the first of six Megamax vessels in the series. ONE’s delivery release identifies a bow windshield, an energy-saving device and an exhaust-gas cleaning system among its features.

The ship later attracted attention for a different number: 22,233 TEU actually loaded. In March 2026, Water Ways News reported the loading record from a 2025 voyage between Singapore and Europe. ONE subsequently confirmed the 22,233 TEU industry record in its September 2026 sustainability report announcement.

That load was about 92.1% of the vessel’s stated TEU capacity. The calculation does not measure utilisation by cargo weight, revenue or usable slots under the voyage’s particular stowage constraints. It also does not make ONE Innovation larger than MSC Irina.

For example, 1,000 standard 40-foot containers count as 2,000 TEU. A loading record expressed in TEU cannot be converted into a physical box count without knowing the mix of container sizes. Cargo weight, stability, stack limits and the sequence of discharge ports further shape the loading plan.

The ships that built the 24000 TEU fleet

MSC Tessa, Ever Alot and Ever Ace remain useful reference points because they show how closely packed the largest designs have become. Their published capacities are 24,116, 24,004 and 23,992 TEU respectively. Tessa’s particulars were documented by MMC Ports, while Port of Hamburg lists both Ever Alot and Ever Ace.

New Atlas’s March 2023 report on MSC Tessa captured that stage of development: designers were adding container space while keeping vessels close to the dimensions of their predecessors. The historical context matters when reading an older headline announcing the world’s largest ship.

A ship’s entire capacity is not exchanged at every call. During Tessa’s maiden-voyage call at Sines in April 2023, the terminal handled approximately 4,500 container movements, according to PSA International. That cargo exchange determines the work to be completed at the terminal; the ship’s nominal capacity alone cannot describe it.

HMM’s fleet also illustrates why the exact vessel matters. HMM Algeciras is listed at 23,964 TEU, while HMM Oslo is listed at 23,820 TEU. Ships described broadly as part of a carrier’s 24,000 TEU fleet need not have identical specifications. HMM’s fleet register.

Further back, MSC Gülsün set a benchmark in 2019 with 23,756 TEU and the ability to accommodate 24 containers across its width. Port of Rotterdam’s contemporary report records both features. MSC Irina’s published capacity is only about 2.5% higher, despite the succession of new ship names since then.

What ship size changes for ports and cargo owners

A terminal handling these vessels needs sufficient water depth, berth space and crane outreach. It also needs room and transport capacity to move discharged containers through the yard. In its May 2025 analysis of ultra-large container ships, the Port of Barcelona’s PierNext highlighted draught, crane reach and terminal saturation as constraints on further growth.

The business case depends on cargo volume as well as engineering. Spreading a voyage’s costs across more loaded containers can lower the cost per unit, but those savings depend on utilisation, fuel consumption and the service pattern. They do not establish that a larger vessel will deliver a particular shipment faster or at a lower quoted freight rate.

For forwarders comparing sailings, the relevant checks are the port rotation, any transshipment connection, the terminal and the latest schedule. A direct call by a smaller vessel may suit a shipment better than a megaship service requiring a feeder connection. That is a routing decision, not a vessel-size ranking.

The same distinction applies after booking. A vessel’s position can help explain voyage progress, but it does not confirm that a particular container has been discharged or released for collection. Shipment tracking should be read alongside container events and terminal availability, especially when arranging inland transport.