HERE are the top 20 container shipping companies based on cargo-carrying capacity as published by Bangalore's MarineInsight.

1. MSC - Mediterranean Shipping Company. Maersk has been in the No 1 spot since it overtook Evergreen in 1996. Geneva based Italian Swiss MSC was established in 1970. Having 800 ships, it is rated to be one of the most extensive cargo companies globally, with a capacity of 5,614,057 TEU.

2. Maersk Shipping Line dominated the world container shipping market, holding the No 1 spot for more than 25 years. It is a unit of Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk. Currently, the company has a fleet of 675 containerships with a capacity of 4,117,136 TEU.

3. CMA-CGM is France's leading container shipping company. It came into existence in 1978 as a result of mergers. At present, it has 624 ships, aggregating 3,578,494 TEU.

4. COSCO - China Ocean Shipping Company - has been reduced to fourth place by CMA CGM. COSCO has 490 ships aggregating to 3,054,323 TEU. However, its order book contains 837,492 TEU in 50 ships to be added in the coming year.

5. Hapag-Lloyd, the German line was established in 1970 from the merger between the Hamburg-American Line and the North German company Lloyd. Today, it has 266 ships aggregating 1,963,934 TEU.

6. ONE, Japanese-owned but Singapore-based, Ocean Network Express, was established in 2017, and combine the container operations of Japan's "big three", MOL, "K"-Line, and NYK and now consists of 231 vessels of 1,799,818 TEU.

7. Evergreen Line of Taiwan was founded in 1968 has 211 container ships aggregating to 1,644,883 TEU. Currently, Evergreen has the world's largest container ships in its fleet.

8. HMM, formerly known as Hyundai Merchant Marine, is a leading container line in South Korea. It has 70 vessels aggregating 783,732 TEU.

9. Yang Ming Marine Transport of Taiwan was established in 1972, providing services across Asia, Europe, America, and Australia with 94 vessels of 708,593 TEU.

10. Zim Integrated Shipping Services is an Israeli company, founded in 1945 as the Zim Palestine Navigation Company. Currently, Zim has a fleet of 124 ships 619,349 TEU. It has added more than 30 ships to its fleet in 2021, making it one of the top 10 container shipping companies in the world.

11. Wan Hai Lines of Taiwan started as a log transportation company. However, it recognised the growing trends of containerisation and bought its first container vessel, the Ming Chun in 1976. It is the only carrier with terminals in the island's northern, central and southern regions. It has 120 ships of 482,837 TEU.

12. Pacific International Lines (PIL) of Singapore operates 88 ships that call at more than 500 locations in 100 countries across the world and has capacity 294,821 TEU.

13. SITC International Holdings Co Ltd. Founded in May 1991, SITC, based in Hong Kong, is a key shipping logistics company. The company has 102 ships of 161,998 TEU.

14. X-Press Feeders is based in Singapore. It has 80 vessels of 153,306 TEU. The company provides transshipment services and serves ports in the eastern and southeastern parts of Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Europe, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.

15. Korea Marine Transport Co (KMTC) is based in Seoul and has 64 ships of 150,075 TEU. The vessels call in India, Africa, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, China, and Russia.

16. Unifeeder, based in Denmark, is a feeder and multimodal service provider offering efficient logistics solutions across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa. The company handles 5.5 million TEU annually. It has 82 ships of 138,100 TEU.

17. The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line Group (IRISL Group) of Iran Shipping Line Group. It has 31 vessels, out of which some are operated by its subsidiary companies. It has a TEU capacity of 137,720 TEU.

18. SeaLead Shipping, established in 2017 in Singapore, SeaLead is a relatively new player in the global container shipping market and has shown tremendous growth since it started operations. It has 28 ships of 128,931 TEU.

19. Zhonggu Logistics CorporationShanghai Zhonggu Logistics is a company based in China. It has 89 ships of 126,579 TEU.

20. Sinokor Merchant Marine is Seoul-based. It was launched the first Korea-China container liner service in 1989, three years before the official diplomatic relationship between Korea and China began.