Fairfax Financial Holdings has taken over as the largest shareholder in container shipping operator Seaspan Corporation.

The Toronto-based financial holding company had invested $1bn in Seaspan, in the process becoming its largest shareholder, according to Seaspan president and chief executive Bing Chen.

Fairfax lifted its aggregate shareholding of Class A common shares to around 36% of Seaspan stock in January, up from around 21.4%