A container image registry is maintained at each host device in a set of host devices in a container hosting environment. A container image is composed of one or more container image layers such that each container image registry of each host device is configured to be able to store one or more different layers of one or more different container images. The method tracks which container image registry at which host device contains which container image layers. At each host device, one or more container images are obtained for launching one or more application programs. For a given host device, the one or more container images are obtained from one or more of: (i) one or more container image layers stored in its container image registry; and (ii) one or more container image layers stored in the container image registry of another host device.