World's Largest Cargo Ship

Get a load of this ship! 15,000 containers and a 207' beam!

And look at the crew size (13) for a ship longer than US aircraft
carriers, which have complements of 5,000 men and officers.

Think it's big enough? Notice that 207' beam means it was NOT designed
for the Panama or Suez canal. It is strictly transpacific.

Check out the "cruise speed." 31 mph means the goods arrive four
days before the typical container ship traveling at 18 to 20 mph
on a China-to-California run. So this behemoth is hugely
competitive when carrying perishable goods.

This ship was built in three, perhaps as many as five sections. The sections
floated together and then welded. It is named Emma Maersk. The
command bridge is higher than a ten story building and has eleven
rigs that can operate simultaneously.


Additional info:
Country of origin - Denmark
Length - 1,302 ft
Width - 207 ft
Net cargo - 123,200 tons
Engine - 14 in-line cylinders diesel engine (110,000 BHP)-
Cruise Speed - 31 mi/h
Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 ft 3" container)
Crew - 13 people
First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006 -
Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

The silicone paint applied to the ship's bottom reduces water
resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year

 

Very neat! Thanks for posting. It is big but still looks like a very efficient hull, not some floating box.

 

Absolutely daunting.

Pericles

 

Heres an engine for it. http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/


The special paint saves nothing. According to the engine specs it use 1660gall per hour?

 

I've seen pictures of that engine before - did not know what it went into.

As far as the paint, maybe they are comparing it to copper based paints or no paint at all?

 

Bugger....Back to the drawingboard......

 

We had a presentation recently by MAERSK, if I remember correctly he said it was a single screw. He didn't think they would build anything bigger until engine technologly changes, currently there aren't any engines out there powerfull enough to power anything larger.

 

Brian,

Emma Maersk can pass the Suez Canal. Wikipedia have an article about her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Mærsk

It turns out the parent company for the engine is Finnish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wärtsilä-Sulzer_RTA96-C

Some Chinese were upset when they found out about the cargo the ship carried on its second trip to China.

http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/756-China-must-say-no-to-imported-waste

Pericles

 

Wonder they could keep the cost down so low, comparativly speaking.

Tim

 

The article about "exporting waste to China" is a highly opinionated editorial with many internal contradictions. The writer is describing the recycling of plastics, generally recognized as a beneficial practice. The resulting pollution he (or she; I confess I don't recognize the gender of Chinese names) describes is a product of the methods used by the recycling plant in China. It's a bit strange that the author blames the UK shippers of the plastic waste for the pollution by the Chinese recycler.

Anyway, the new class of Maersk container ships are amazing. Emma Maersk is only the first of at least five in service so far, and other lines are ordering equally large ships. The economics make sense: same size crew for larger revenue per voyage, and longer waterline length enabling greater hull speed.

The modular construction method gave one unique advantage: when welding caused a fire that severely damaged the superstructure, the builder cut it off and replaced it with the already completed superstructure module for one of the other ships. The delay in completion was only a week or 2.

 

In re the China thing: They ship us crap, we ship them their crap right back. Works for me.

I do like how the ship is in proportion to itself; from a distance, it'd be hard to tell if it were 450' or three times that long. Also note a return to the 6:1 beam/length ratio favored by the builders of the clipper ships.

 

Both the ship and the engine give new meaning to the belief that "bigger is better".

 

Vast but also too big to enter into many of the worlds ports such as the biggest port in South America, Santos due draft! She´s strickly a hub to hub transporter.

 

Charmc,

"The article about "exporting waste to China" is a highly opinionated editorial with many internal contradictions. The writer is describing the recycling of plastics, generally recognized as a beneficial practice. The resulting pollution he (or she; I confess I don't recognize the gender of Chinese names) describes is a product of the methods used by the recycling plant in China. It's a bit strange that the author blames the UK shippers of the plastic waste for the pollution by the Chinese recycler."

Agreed! However, the writer decided NOT to let the truth get in the way of an irate tirade.

Coincidently, another forum gave a link to marine diesels. http://www.marinediesels.info/index.html

Regards,

Pericles

 

No, I don't think I wrote that one Pericles....