FreightWaves Flashback: Maersk launches first 6,000-TEU ship
The many industries that make up the world of freight have undergone tremendous change over the past several decades. Each week, FreightWaves explores the archives of American Shipper’s nearly 70-year-old collection of shipping and maritime publications to showcase interesting freight stories of long ago.
In this week’s edition, from the March 1996 issue of
American Shipper, FreightWaves Flashback spotlights
Maersk’s ambitious push for containership superiority.
Maersk Line has launched the world’s largest containership,
a behemoth that is the first to break the 6,000-TEU mark.
The new 6,000-TEU vessel, Regina Maersk, was launched on
January 10 in Maersk’s Odense shipyard in Aarhus, Denmark. The ship is the
first of a series of 12 identical vessels, the first nine of which will be
deployed in the Asia/North Europe trade.
The vessels symbolize the quest of carriers for scale
economics, automation and [immense size]. At 1,044 feet (318.2 meters) long,
the new Maersk ships are longer than the Eiffel tower, but they are still
capable of a high speed of 25 knots.
“The Regina Maersk is not only the largest container vessel
in the world but is also equipped with the world’s most powerful diesel
engine,” Maersk said. The engine is rated at 74,640 bhp.
Its total complement of officers and crew will be just 15,
compared with 21 for the 4,300-TEU vessels of American President lines that,
when built in 1988, were the first post-Panamax containerships.
With a breadth of 140 feet, the new Maersk ships will be far
wider than the 106-foot (32.35-meter) maximum width for ships transiting the
locks of the Panama Canal.
The new vessels will have a maximum draft of 46 feet, or 14
meters.
Maersk said each of the new ships will have 700 reefer plugs
for carrying refrigerated container cargo. The line said the ships would have
20 percent more refrigerated-cargo capacity than the world’s largest dedicated
reefer vessel.
Other features include on-deck platforms that the line said
would permit safer lashing of containers above deck, and stabilizer fins to
minimize rolling in rough seas.
Maersk refused to disclose the gross tonnage of the new
ships, as this would allow competitors to calculate the actual TEU capacity of
the new ships.
Maersk had initially stated that its new 6,000-TEU ships
would have a maximum capacity of 4,800 TEUs and said last April that they would
be lengthened to accommodate 5,500 TEUs.
Critics have alleged that the discrepancy between the public
figures and the final capacity number of 6,000 TEUs was a calculated move to
mislead competitors and to gain a commercial edge.
“During the design stage, it was decided to up the capacity
to 5,500-TEU-plus,” Kjaedgaard said. “We never said that it would be just 5,500
TEU.”
Hanjin Shipping, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Cosco have
ordered ships with capacities of 5,000 TEU or more, but none has yet placed a
firm order for 6,000-TEU juggernauts.
With its ships already built or close to completion, Maersk
has a two-year lead over carriers such as P&O Containers and NYK Line,
which are still studying potential orders for 6,000-TEU vessels.
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