Shipping spent decades improving productivity with one simple formula.
Build bigger ships.
Move more containers.
Spread the cost across more cargo.
It worked.
Today, the largest container ships carry more than 24,000 TEU.
But size alone is no longer solving every problem.
Reliability remains under pressure.
Ports are getting tighter.
And carriers are now finding savings in very different parts of the network.
That matters because the next productivity gain could reshape costs, capacity and competitiveness.
So where will the next big gain come from?
Here are 5️⃣ signals shaping the answer:
1️⃣ Scale is no longer enough
Bigger ships transformed container shipping economics.
More TEU could move on each voyage.
Unit costs could fall when those ships were full.
But today’s largest vessels already exceed 24,000 TEU.
And bigger exchanges put more pressure on terminals, yards and inland networks.
Some megamax calls in Hamburg spending ~7 days at berth in July.
💡 Scale only pays when the wider system can turn the ship efficiently.
2️⃣ Network design can create productivity
Maersk says Gemini delivered $936m in Ocean benefits.
Its Q2 Ocean utilisation reached 96%.
Volume growth also outpaced fleet growth by 2 percentage points.
More cargo moved without capacity growing at the same speed.
💡 Better networks can create more output from the same assets.
3️⃣ Asset turns are becoming more valuable
Maersk’s loaded volumes increased 4.1% in Q2.
Average operated capacity increased only 1.9%.
At the same time, unit cost at fixed energy fell 0.8%.
Maersk pointed to improved asset turns, better bunker consumption and higher volumes.
💡 The same fleet becomes more productive when ships work harder.
4️⃣ Ports can now set the limit
The pressure is increasingly moving ashore.
Far East headhaul volumes have grown around 25% since 2024.
Global terminal capacity expanded by only around 10% over the same period.
Maersk’s container handling costs rose 11% in Q2, driven partly by congestion and higher storage costs.
💡 Port productivity is becoming part of fleet productivity.
5️⃣ Reliability can release hidden capacity
Global schedule reliability was only 56.4% in July as per Sea-Intelligence.
Late vessels were still arriving an average of 6 days behind schedule.
Recent disruption has been estimated to absorb around 5% of the global fleet.
The long-run average is closer to 2.3%.
When ships spend less time waiting, recovering schedules and covering delays, more capacity becomes usable.
💡 Better reliability can add capacity without adding ships.
🧭 Maritime Analytica View
Shipping’s old productivity lever was size.
The next one may be time.
Time at berth.
Time waiting.
Time recovering schedules.
Time between one loaded voyage and the next.
Bigger ships will still matter.
But the bigger competitive gap may come from how efficiently operators use the capacity they already have.
Better networks.
Higher asset turns.
Faster ports.
Fewer delays.
All can make the same fleet produce more.
For the next productivity race, watch:
Asset turns. Port time. Schedule reliability.
The key question: which carriers can move more cargo with the same capacity?