Seatrade Maritime: Latin America growth cements X-Press in feeder top spot

Singapore-headquartered X-Press Feeders has widened the gap to Unifeeder at the top of the common feeder league table according to analyst Alphaliner.

X-Press Feeders fleet capacity grew by 13% or 22,500 teu in the period September 2024 to September 2025 compared to 9% growth or 12,500 teu slot growth for rival Unifeeder. Xpress Feeders and Unifeeder rank 13^th and 15^th respectively in Alphaliner’s top 100 container lines ranking.

However, both lines have grown at a slower pace in the last 12 months. “The pace of growth for both carriers has slowed significantly compared to the previous year. Last year’s increase was predominantly fuelled by the Red Sea crisis, which forced most mainline operators (MLOs) to avoid the Suez Canal and rely more heavily on third-party feeder operators,” Alphaliner said in its weekly newsletter.

Driving the capacity growth of X-Press Feeders was the Latin America region followed by Middle East/Indian Subcontinent. In Latin America the line grew capacity by 53% adding 9,200 teu over the past 12 months. For the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent region it grew by 8% adding 8,700 teu of capacity.

By contrast Unifeeder’s expansion was focused on the intra-Europe trades with it adding 11,000 teu. “This expansion was largely driven by its intra-Med affiliate Unimed Feeder Services (UFS), which added ten vessels, accounting for 9,700 teu of new slots,” the report said.

The Middle East/Indian Subcontinent remains the largest region for both feeder lines with both lines deploying over 50% of their capacity in the area.