This list of freight ship companies is arranged by country. Companies listed own and/or operate bulk carriers, car carriers, container ships, Roll-on/roll-off (for freight), and tankers. For a list of companies that own and operate passenger ships (cruise ships, cargo-passenger ships, and ferries), see List of passenger ship companies.
Key
" " - Call sign or common name, ( ) - Parent company or conglomerate, > - Previous company name, >> - Company name in local language
BC - Bulk carriers, CC - Car carriers, CS - Container ships, RR - Roll-on/Roll-off (for freight), TK - Tankers
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American President Lines, LLC, is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including nine U.S. flagged container vessels.
CMA CGM is a French shipping and logistics company founded in 1978 by Jacques Saadé.
COSCO Shipping Development Co., Ltd., stylized as COSCO SHIPPING Development is a financial services company based in Shanghai, China.
Wallenius Lines is a privately owned Swedish shipping company. The company was founded in 1934 by Olof Wallenius. Wallenius Lines is an investor and active owner within the global shipping industry, specifically the international car and roll-on/roll-off segment.
P&O Nedlloyd Container Line Limited was an Anglo-Dutch worldwide ocean-going container shipping line, with dual headquarters in London and Rotterdam. The company was formed in 1997 by the merger of the container-shipping interests of Dutch transportation company Royal Nedlloyd and the British maritime shipping giant P&O Group.
Messageries Maritimes was a French merchant shipping company. It was originally created in 1851 as Messageries nationales, later called Messageries impériales, and from 1871, Compagnie des messageries maritimes, casually known as "MesMar" or by its initials "MM". Its rectangular house flag, with the letters MM on a white background and red corners, was famous in shipping circles, especially on the Europe-Asia trade lanes. In 1977 it merged with Compagnie générale transatlantique to form Compagnie générale maritime. In 1996 CGM was privatized and sold to Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) to form CMA CGM.
Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA (WWH) is a Norwegian multinational maritime group, headquartered in Lysaker, Norway. The group employs more than 21,000 people and has operations in 75 nations. The Wilhelmsen group operates the largest maritime network in the world, with over 2200 locations worldwide.
Australian National Line (ANL) was a coastal shipping line established by the Government of Australia in 1956. It was sold in 1998 by the Howard government to CMA CGM.
Sea-Land was an American intra-regional container shipping company headquartered in Miramar, Florida with representation in 29 countries across the Americas. It offered ocean and intermodal services using container ships, trucks, and rail serving customers between North and South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Ivarans Rederi AS was a merchant steamship company founded in Norway by Ivar Anton Christensen in 1902. The flag was red with a white "C" in the middle, for the founder's family name: Christensen.
Jacques Rodolphe Saadé was a French-Lebanese billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of the CMA CGM, a French container transportation and shipping company, the fourth largest in the world as of June 2020.
Farrell Lines Incorporated was a boat company named in 1948 after James A. Farrell, Jr., and John J. Farrell, sons of James Augustine Farrell, president of US Steel. The company was previously known as American South African Lines (ASAL). It was a passenger line and cargo line in regular service from New York City to South Africa stopping at Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Lourenço Marques (Maputo) in Mozambique. The ships were well-appointed and carried about 180 passengers.
Atlantic Container Line is an American, previously Swedish, shipping company owned by the Italian Grimaldi Group. The company operates large roll-on/roll-off (RORO) container ships between Europe and North America.
Maersk Line is a Danish international container shipping company and the largest operating subsidiary of Maersk, a Danish business conglomerate. Founded in 1928, it is the world's second largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, offering regular services to 374 ports in 116 countries. As of 2024, it employed over 100,000 people. Maersk Line operates over 700 vessels and has a total capacity of about 4.1 million TEU.
The Compagnie Marocaine de Navigation or Comanav is a Moroccan shipping company and wholly owned subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group. Currently, it is the leader in the Moroccan market for maritime transport of passengers and freight, as well as port operations. In 2009, the company sold its ferries and passenger transport subdivision to Comarit which has since gone bankrupt.
EUKOR is a South Korean specialised Roll-on/roll-off shipping line. The company's specialize in the sea carriage of new and used cars and High & Heavy cargo.
The Jacques Saadé class is a group of nine container ships each with a capacity of 23,000 TEUs built by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) for French shipping company CMA CGM. Construction on the first two began in July 2018 in Shanghai by Jiangnan Shipyard and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding. The first ship was launched in September 2019. The first ship was delivered on 22 September 2020. The first two ships were originally expected to be delivered in 2019, but they have been delivered in September and October 2020 after a delay of at least 10 months by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) is an alliance of container shipping lines, port operators and other employers in the longshore industry for the larger seaports of the East and Gulf coasts of the United States. Its mission is “to preserve and protect the interests of its members in matters associated with the maritime industry including all labor relations issues”. The alliance was founded in 1997.