China Shipping to launch world’s largest container vessel this month
Qingqing Chen | Nov 19, 2014 3:33PM EST JOC.com
China Shipping Container Lines said it will launch the first of five 19,100-TEU container ships by end of the month, supplanting Maersk Line as the operator of the world’s largest container vessel.
China Shipping, the seventh-largest global container line, in May 2013 ordered the new mega-ship, named CSCL Globe, from the South Korean shipbuilding company Hyundai Heavy Industries. The new ship measures 400 meters (1,312 feet) in length, 59 meters (194 feet) in width and 31 meters (101 feet) in depth, equating to the size of four football, or U.S. soccer, fields
For now, Maersk operates the world’s largest container vessels with its 18,000-TEU vessels deployed on Asia-Europe trade lane.
The new container ships will be deployed on the Asia-Europe trade loop after being handed over to China Shipping this month, HHI said. The Asia-North Europe trade faces a “huge” impact from the influx of more than 50 ultra-large container vessels over the next 15 months, matching that of the formation of new carrier alliances, according to Drewry Maritime Research.
Larger vessels give carriers greater economies of scale and better fuel efficiency. But those larger vessels, coupled with volume surges, can overwhelm marine terminals that don't have the needed infrastructure capacity and berth productivity, as has been in the case in recent weeks at the Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex.
CSCL Globe’s 77,200 bhp electronically controlled engine is expected to lower fuel consumption by 20 percent, China Shipping said. The state-owned carrier added that the fuel-saving engine is also one of the company’s eco-friendly strategies, designed to be consistent with Chinese government’s ongoing environmental policies.
China Shipping is also working to maximize its larger vessels via an alliance, known as the Ocean Three, with CMA CGM and United Arab Shipping Co. Compared with other shipping companies alliance, Ocean Three have an average vessel size of 16,500 TEU, slightly smaller than 2M, the vessel sharing agreement between Maersk and CMA CGM.
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