The new generation of VLCC has arrived. The acronym usually refers to tankers, specifically, Very Large Crude Carriers, but in this case I am referring to Very Large Container Carriers. Perhaps they should be designated VLCS, for Very Large Container Ships. Mærsk now has 13 of their Triple E Class in service, each with a capacity of 18,340 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units.) Fora time they had the bragging rights as the world’s largest container ships. Indeed the Triple E website’s URL is http://www.worldslargestship.com/.
Now China Shipping Container Lines has built CSCL Globe which it claims is largest container ship with a capacity of 19,100 TEU. CSCL’s bragging rights won’t last much longer as Mediterranean Shipping Company’s MSC Oscar is going into service this month with an advertised capacity of 19,224 TEU.
A word of caution, however. These new container ships are almost exactly the same size. The problem is that a container ship’s capacity depends on the weight distribution and stowage of the containers loaded on to the ship. Mærsk typically is more conservative in estimating container capacities while MSC is more optimistic. Both the Mærsk Triple E Class ships and the new “largest” ship, MSC Oscar, are 400 meters long and 59 meters wide, with a draft of around 16 meters.
Don’t look for these behemoths to show up in US ports anytime soon. They are simply too large. They also will not fit through the Panama Canal. Edit: They will just barely fit through the Suez at maximum draft. (Thanks to Chris Allport for the correction.) And while they may be the world’s largest container ships, they are not the world’s largest ships, by any means. The Valemax Class of bulk carriers carry more cargo tonnage and have higher gross tonnages (a measure of ship volume not weight.) The same is true of the TI-class supertankers. The new container ships are slightly longer but are narrower and have shallower drafts.
MSC Oscar from MSC Cargo on Vimeo.
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