Posted on 07/05/2013 9:53:09 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
Shipping group Maersk is bringing the world's largest ship into service this month - but the vessel's sheer size could mean beginning its working life under capacity.
The company has taken delivery of the first of 10 massive "Triple E" container ships each measuring 1,312ft long and capable of holding more than 18,000 standard 20ft shipping containers.
Capable of carrying 16pc more cargo than Maersk's largest vessel currently plying the oceans, the Triple E class was designed to cut costs through economies of scale.
However, the new ship - named Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller - might not deliver those cost savings just yet as several of the just 16 ports certified to handle such a huge vessel have the facilities to its full capacity.
With the Triple E class standing 20 storeys high, not all of these ports have cranes high enough to fully load the vessel.
As a result, when the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller sets sail on its maiden voyage plying the Asia-Europe sealanes on July 16 it is expected to be carrying a maximum of 14,000 containers - a fifth short of its full load - until the ports it calls at can upgrade their facilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Designing a ship that’s too big to be handled by the ports.
That’s like building an SUV that’s too wide for the highways.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat? Nevermind.
Find the container holding the ten-megatonner.
5-year project.
That's a shipload of ship.
Not exactly the same. Those 16 ports that can handle these are likely quite busy ports taking a constant flow of container ships between them.
A few of these will stay busy. Just like a few of the Ultra-Large Crude Carriers can visit few ports but go to those few constantly.
Maersk has already awarded the contracts for larger ships.
Holy crap. That’s 8 ft. short of a quarter mile long ship!
The day this ship is commissioned will become a Somalian national holiday .
http://www.worldslargestship.com/discovery-channel-to-broadcast-maersk-triple-e-build/
That’s a carrier and an escort destroyer combined.
There should be some traffic first. From Wiki:
"The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is a number issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange. Not restricted to Baltic Sea countries, the index provides "an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea. Taking in 23 shipping routes measured on a timecharter basis, the index covers Handysize, Supramax, Panamax, and Capesize dry bulk carriers carrying a range of commodities including coal, iron ore and grain."
During World War II some German tanks had to have their tracks removed when loaded onto flatcars in order to be able to go through the train tunnels in Europe. Too wide. The Tiger I comes to mind.
I remember reading about that.
We’re gonna need a bigger port..............
I have a distant cousin who is a big shot at MAERSK. He has more money than God.
If I was him, I would have retired decades ago.
I was up in the city a couple of years ago and look out over the bay.
I say an office building in the middle of the bay and thought “Why the heck would anyone put a building over?”
Felt dumb as heck when I late realized what it really was...
We should give it its own zip code..
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