Container ship maersk. The largest container ship. From the Chinese shipyard to the ice

Do you know Emma Maersk, the largest container ship today, and an orchid were named after the late wife of Maersk’s chairman, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller?

You will find the answer later on in this article, together with information about:

• the ship's particulars;
• sister ships;
• other vessels once having that name;
• interesting facts about the mega ship.

Have you ever wished to name something big after the name of your beloved ones?

I believe the daughter of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Maersk's chairman did, and she completed her wish.

She christened the biggest container ship on 12 August 2006 after her later mother, Emma Maersk.

Godmother Ane Maersk Mc-Kinney Uggla flanked by (from left) Captain Henry Solms,
senior shipowner Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller and CEO. Finn Buus Nielsen.
Source: http://www.skipsrevyen.no/batomtaler/batomtaler-5-2006/356.html

The extreme things like the longest river, the tallest skyscraper... usually impress people (including me). Emma Mærsk amazes us as the world's largest container ship ever built, and the currently in use. (Actually, the biggest ship ever built, – a supertanker, was scrapped in 2010).

The Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk Group built Emma Maersk in 2006 at Odense Steel Shipyard, Denmark. After her delivery, Maersk Lines has deployed the ship en route from Europe – Far East via Suez Canal.

Europe-Far East route

Ship particulars

Emma Maersk at Singapore
Source: www.singaporepsa.com

Maiden voyage

The Danish vessel set sail on her historic maiden voyage on 8 September 2006 under the command of Maersk Senior Master, Captain Henrik Solmer and Chief Engineer Michael Thomassen.

She departed Aarhus, calling at Gothenburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Algeciras, the Suez Canal, and arrived in Singapore on 1 October 2006.

The vessel departed Singapore on the following day, headed for Yantian in Shenzhen. She sailed on to Kobe, Nagoya, arrived at Yokohama on 10 October 2006, and returned via Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, the Suez Canal, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Gothenburg and finally to Aarhus, with arrival at that port 11 November 2006.

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I saw the ship myself
I saw Emma Maersk in the night while transiting from Malacca strait. It looked like whole island passing by. It was great to look at the world "s largest ...

Container ships are cargo ships that carry goods in standardized containers. To date, the vast majority of non-bulk cargo is transported in this way.

The capacity of a container ship is defined worldwide in terms of the number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) that can be loaded onto a ship. So, we present you a list of the world's largest container ships as of the end of 2017.

1. EMMA MAERSK

EMMA MAERSK is the first E-class container ship built, owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk. When the vessel was launched in 2006, it became the largest ever built, while in 2010 the company's fleet was replenished with seven sister ships designed by EMMA MAERSK. Officially, the super container ship can carry up to 14,770 TEU.

1. CMA CGM Marco Polo

CMA CGM Marco Polo is an Explorer class container ship owned by CMA CGM. As of the launch date, November 6, 2012, the CMA CGM Marco Polo has become the largest container ship in the world with a cargo capacity of 16,020 TEU. The container ship got its name in honor of the famous Venetian merchant and traveler Marco Polo.

1. MSc New York

MSC NEW YORK is a container ship built in 2014 that currently sails under the Panamanian flag. MSC NEW YORK is 399 meters long and 54 meters wide. The gross tonnage was as much as 176,490 tons, and the cargo capacity was 16,652 TEU.

1. CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin

CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin is another Explorer-class container ship built for CMA CGM. Launched in November 2015, the ship was named after the founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin. Today CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin is one of the largest container ships and is capable of carrying up to 18,000 TEU.

1. Magleby Maersk

Magleby Maersk is a Triple E class vessel built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. The ship was commissioned by Maersk, the world's largest shipping container corporation. Magleby Maersk is currently the largest Triple E generation vessel with a cargo capacity of 18,270 TEU.

1. Barzan (UASC)

Barzan(UASC) is an ultra large container ship. Barzan is the first of a series of six super container ships up to 18,800 TEU built in South Korea for the United Arab Shipping Company (UASC). According to the declared data, this series of vessels is more environmentally friendly than the vessels of the Maersk Triple E class.

1. CSCL CSCL Globe

CSCL Globe is a container ship owned and operated by China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL). The Globe is the first of five ships ordered by CSCL to operate on Asia-Europe trade routes. Cargo capacity - 19 100 TEU.

1. MSC OSCAR

MSC OSCAR was planned as a vessel with a cargo capacity of 18,400 TEU. However, upon completion of construction, the cargo capacity was 19,224 TEU, of which 1,800 are refrigerated containers. Since the vessel has a deadweight of 197,362 tons, the full load of 19,224 TEU MSC OSCAR can only achieve if the weight of each container does not exceed 10.2 tons. With an average container weight of 14 tons, the actual possible loading of the vessel is 14,000 TEU.

1. MSC Anna

MSC ANNA is one of the largest container ships registered and flying the flag of Liberia with a deadweight of 185,503 tons. MSC ANNA was built in 2016 by HYUNDAI shipyards. The total length of the MSC ANNA is 399.98 meters and the width is 58.6 meters. The ship's cargo capacity was 19,368 TEU. The container ship is owned and operated by MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY.

1. M.O.L. Triumph

MOL's newest vessel, the first of 6 planned 20,000 TEU container ships to become the flagship of MOL's fleet. The MOL Triumph commissioning ceremony took place on March 15, 2017. At 400 meters long and 58.8 meters wide, MOL Triumph is currently the largest container ship in the world.

1. Madrid Maersk

In April 2017, the Danish container carrier Maersk Line took delivery of the 20,568 TEU vessel Madrid Maersk. With a deadweight of over 190,000 tons, the container ship is 399 meters long and 58.6 meters wide. The Madrid Maersk is part of the 2nd generation of the Triple-E class and is the first of 11 vessels ordered from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering back in 2015. Despite having a design capacity of 19,630 TEU, Maersk Line appears to have redesigned the ship to push the 20,000 TEU mark.

1. OOCL Hong Kong

OOCL Hong Kong is currently the world's largest container ship. The vessel was built by Samsung Heavy Industries and launched in May 2017. OOCL Hong Kong has a cargo capacity of 21,413 TEU and operates on a 77-day line that includes ports such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Yantian, Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Gdansk and Wilhelmshaven.

Emma Maersk - a real modern miracle. It is the longest container ship currently in use and is powered by the largest diesel engine ever built.

Emma Maersk is the first of 8 E-class container ships owned by A.P. Moller Maersk Group. When launched in 2006, the Emma Maersk was the largest container ship ever built. In 2010, the ship and 7 other ships in the series became the longest container ships ever built in the world and the longest ships in use at that time, after the largest ship in the world, the Seawise Giant, permanently delivered to the port in 2004 , was scrapped in 2010.

load capacity

Officially, Emma Maersk can take on board up to 11,000 TEU or 14,770 TEU, depending on the method of determining the carrying capacity. Maersk originally reported a capacity of 11,000 TEU, according to the company's own method of calculating the capacity at the time, which was 1,400 containers more than any other vessel at the time of the ship's commissioning. However, the company also acknowledges that, using the standard method of calculating cargo capacity, Emma Maersk can take on board up to 14,770 TEU.

In normal calculations, Emma Maersk has a significantly higher carrying capacity than these figures, from 13,500 to 15,200 TEU. The difference arises because Maersk's official figures are based on the weight of the containers, while other companies estimate the capacity of a vessel based on the maximum number of containers that can be placed on board, regardless of their weight. This number always turns out to be greater than Maersk's calculated figures.

According to AP Moller, the owner of Maersk Lines, a typical 20-foot container can hold an average of 48,000 bananas. Therefore, theoretically, Emma Maersk could take on board about 528 million bananas - enough to give every person in Europe or North America a banana for breakfast.

Engine and housing

The vessel is powered by a Wärtsilä-Sulzer 14RTFLEX96-C engine, currently the world's largest single diesel engine, weighing 2,300 tons, producing 109,000 horsepower (82 MW), consuming 6,291 liters of fuel per day. The ship is equipped with several environmental mitigation features, including a heat recovery system and combined heat and power generation.

Some of the exhaust gases are returned to the engine, which helps save fuel and reduce emissions, while some is passed through a steam generator, which then powers the Dresser-Rand steam turbine and electrical generators that produce electricity. This produces 8.5 MW of electricity, which is equivalent to 12% of the power of the main engine. Some of this steam is also used directly to heat the ship. 5 diesel generators can produce up to 20.8 MW for a total of 29 MW. Two 9MW electric motors also power the main propeller shaft.

Two bow and stern thrusters provide maneuverability, and two pairs of stabilizers reduce roll.

Instead of biocides, which are used in the industry to prevent fouling of the hull, a special silicone-based paint has been applied. This improves the vessel's efficiency by reducing drag and also protects the ocean from possible biocide leakage. Silicone paint covering the underwater part of the hull is characterized by the ability to reduce water resistance, which saves up to 1200 tons of fuel per year. The vessel is also fitted with a bulbous prow, a standard feature on all cargo ships.

The turning diameter of the vessel at a speed of 24 knots is 1.5 km. The engine is located in the center to make the most of the rigidity of the hull and to maximize the load capacity. With a roll of 20 degrees, the bridge deviates by 35 m.

Construction

The vessel was built at the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark.

In June 2006, during the final construction phase, a fire started in the superstructure. The fire broke out on the bridge, which cost many millions of dollars, during welding work. Flames engulfed the ship from the bridge, igniting the living quarters, the fire could be seen for miles.

The loss of a ship of this size could be compared to a fire in a large residential area. After avoiding near-total destruction, made possible by the prompt intervention of firefighters, Emma Maersk was fully restored in record time. The delivery of the vessel was delayed for 6-7 weeks.

First flight

After the completion of the construction, the ship set off on its first voyage.

The ship was solemnly presented at a ceremony on August 12, 2006. Emma Maersk got its name from Emma, ​​the wife of Maersk McKinney Moller. The vessel set off on its maiden voyage on September 8, 2006 at 02:00 from Aarhus with calls at Gothenburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Algericas, the Suez Canal and arrived in Singapore on October 1, 2006 at 20:05.

The ship appeared in news stories before Christmas 2006, called the SS Santa, as the ship was heading from China to the UK with a load of gifts for the holiday. On its return trip after Christmas 2006, the ship returned to South China with a cargo of UK waste destined for recycling.

Significance

If we lost Emma Maersk, we would have lost the most environmentally friendly container ship ever built. Environmental safety is achieved on board thanks to the heat recovery system, which helps to save up to 10% of energy. But more importantly, because the ship is three times the size of any container ship that has sailed through the Panama Canal, the number of small ships it can displace would emit far more emissions into the atmosphere than a single large ship.

Despite this, the Emma Maersk and others like it have been criticized for burning bunker fuel, which has a high sulfur content. The sulfur content in the ship's fuel is 2.5-4.5%, which is 2000 times higher than allowed in automobile fuel.

By the way, despite the gigantic size, it is only 13 people.

A year after the significant construction fire story, Emma Maersk was awarded Ship of the Year by Lloyd'sList, the oldest magazine in the world. The ship was given this award not because of its history, but because of the new standards it set for innovation, environmental considerations and safety at Maersk Lines. Only a vessel that has gone from brilliant and technologically innovative design and construction to the threat of total annihilation and then to successful operation deserves this award.

materials and photos are provided by gcaptain and Wikipedia

It would seem that we live in an age of widespread distribution of cars. Traveling by planes, and even more so by trains, has long ceased to be a luxury. But no matter how technologically advanced modern humanity is, there is no getting away from the funny fact that 95 percent of all cargo is transported by sea. Sea container ships under such conditions, they become not just a whim of gigantomaniacs, but an economic need.

Relative to other marine vehicles container ships are relatively young vehicles for the transport of goods. The operating life of container ships is on average 10 years, so their largest representative, which bears the proud name " Emma Maersk", is also one of the youngest.

Container ship of the new series Emma Maersk

Uses this marvel of naval engineering A.P. company Moller Maersk Group, which owns whole 8 E class containerships – Emma Maersk. Setting out on her maiden voyage in 2006, the container ship Emma Maersk established itself as the largest container ship in existence. Within 4 years, container ships of this series became the longest in the history of shipbuilding. Until then, the holders of the title of "largest container ships" were the ships of the Seawise Giant series, but in 2004 the last representative of these container ships completed its final voyage.

But back to Maersk container ships. These giants are able to fit on themselves 18 thousand standard twenty-foot containers. Its length reaches 400 meters, height - 73 meters, width is 59 meters, and the crew consists of only 19 people. The maximum human capacity of these ships is 34 people. This container ship is capable of reaching speeds of up to 23 knots.

Capacity of container ship Emma Maersk

Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller was created by craftsmen from Korea commissioned by Maersk Line. The container ship owes its name to the former head of the company - McKinney Miller who managed it between 1965 and 1993. As for the ship mentioned at the beginning of the article, under the pretty name Emma Maersk, then everything is also very simple here - this ship was named after Miller's wife named Emma, who passed away in December 2005. A very sad story, but still, in this way, Emma Maersk turns into a real monument of love immortalized in metal.

The giant container ship will have to surf the sea along the route " Asia-Europe”, entering the Russian port of Vostochny for bunkering on a regular basis.

However, not all shipping experts share a positive opinion about the ships of this series. British almanac editor Lloyd's List believes that such an engineering solution is inefficient. In his opinion, despite the economical engines installed on the ship, when it is not fully loaded, there will be critical decline in efficiency. It should be clarified that it is practically impossible to load such a container ship to failure, because not every port has equipment capable of lifting containers to the height required for loading. No one is going to take risks with such things, given that the slightest mistake in the layout can lead to the list of the port crane.

This fact becomes especially extraordinary if we recall that in 2007 the same publication “ Lloyd's List» named this container ship « ship of the year". They argued this decision by the fact that the ship was an ideal balance between economy and environmental safety.

The first container ship in history completes the Arctic voyage from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg with a cargo of frozen fish. The world leader in maritime transport, the Danish Maersk, is in a hurry to stake out a place on the Northern Sea Route, where there is less ice and more and more Chinese competitors.

The route along the Arctic Ocean along the coast of Russia is a couple of weeks shorter than the traditional one and a half month southern route along the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and around Europe to the Baltic.

And while more than 17,000 ships passed through Suez last year, and only a couple of dozen transited the Northern Sea Route, Russia and China hope that in the future it will become commercially attractive due to warming, a boom in trade and the development of an icebreaking fleet.

Sea carriers decided to prepare for this in advance. Last year, Chinese state-owned shipping company Cosco and private Japanese Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) sent vessels with general cargo along the ice route. Maersk noticed the revival on the new route and decided not to stand aside.

The Danish company dominates the sea in terms of container traffic. The container is the main unit of world trade in goods, they carry everything from cars to socks. But until now, container ships have not traveled along the northern route from the Chukchi Sea to the Kara Sea through the East Siberian and Laptev Seas.

Only now Maersk decided it was time to explore the route.

“The test trip will give us an idea of ​​whether the Northern Sea Route is suitable for container traffic,” the Danish carrier said, but even before analyzing the information collected in the ice, it warned: “At present, we are not considering the Northern Sea Route as a commercial alternative to the current route network. , which is built taking into account demand, trade flows and coastal populations.”

From the Chinese shipyard to the ice

The company entrusted the pioneering mission to the newly launched container ship Venta Maersk.

The ice-class vessel is 200 meters long and 36 meters wide and can take on board 3,600 containers. This is the fourth of seven identical container ships built for Maersk at the shipyards of China's Zhoushan.

All of them are designed to operate on Seago Line routes in the Baltic, where the climate requires ice-class vessels. The container ships left China for Europe in the usual way, via the Suez Canal, but one, the Venta Maersk, was decided to be sent on an experimental route across the Arctic.

At the end of August, he left Vladivostok with a cargo of frozen fish, drove to South Korean Busan for electronics and went to St. Petersburg with one stop in the Baltic - in German Bremerhaven. Less than a month later, he was already plying the waters of the North Sea off the coast of Germany.

Will the next one follow? Hardly right away, says Professor Frederic Lasser of the University of Laval in Quebec, Canada: the Danes just staked out a place on the new route with an eye to the distant future.

“If Cosco decides to develop this market, however microscopic, Maersk is unlikely to accept a Chinese monopoly,” Lasser told the Nord University Center for High North Studies newspaper. “It seems to me that Maersk is just looking to be able to enter the route if competitors – Cosco, MOL – suddenly are going to develop it.”

And it will depend on the weather and politics.

Another 20 years

If world trade continues to develop, shipping companies will look for new opportunities, and here the speed of delivery of goods can be a competitive advantage in a market where it has not been possible to compete on price for a long time - it is now possible to transport a container of goods worth tens of thousands of dollars across the Atlantic for fifty dollars.

Sea transport now accounts for 90% of world trade. The merchant fleet has more than 50,000 ships and over a million sailors. And the main route from China to Europe lies through the Suez Canal. It takes up to a month and a half, and the opportunity to knock off two weeks looks attractive.

Therefore, in January, China included the Northern Sea Route in its plans for its western trade expansion, dubbed the "New Silk Road."

Moreover, the ice is melting, and the Russian icebreaker fleet is growing. Now the Northern Sea Route is suitable for transit commercial traffic only three months a year, and it has other significant drawbacks.

Ice-class ships are smaller: Venta Maersk can only fit 3,600 containers, while second-generation EEE superships like Munich Maersk and Mumbai Maersk can take on board five times as many.

If the ice melt continues, and other factors — traffic volume, availability of icebreakers, fuel costs — turn out favorably, this route will become a viable alternative to the southern route in about 20 years, the Copenhagen Business School calculated in a large study of the future of regular Arctic transportation.

True, after the publication of this work, a new factor appeared, and it is distinguished by a high degree of unpredictability. US President Donald Trump has decided to launch a trade war on China. If it undermines world trade, maritime carriers will not be up to the development of Arctic routes.