As the shipping industry progresses toward bigger and ever more complex ships we are seeing shipbuilding giants battling for supremacy in building a better, bigger and more advanced vessel.
The slightest upgrades in size or efficiency can bring in enormous profits or slash operational costs on a global scale.
As a result, the industry will soon see an even larger container ship than Maersk’s Triple-E, as China Shipping Container Lines announces launching of the world’s largest containership.
The 400-meter vessel is one meter longer than the 399-meter Triple-E and will have the capacity to carry 19,100 standard 20-foot containers, or 830 more than its rival, Bloomberg writes citing CSCL as saying.
As explained by the vessel’s builder, South Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries Co.(HHI), these vessels will cut fuel usage by one fifth when compared to the common 10,000-box variety.
In addition, HHI presented a new design feature for container vessels at this year’s SMM exhibition and conference in Hamburg, dubbed the “Skybench”.
According to HHI, the patented concept, aimed at increasing the box intake of large container carriers, can extend cargo capacity by 450 teu on a 23-row wide 19,000 teu ship and by 350 teu on a 20-row wide 14,000 teu vessel.
The concept is said to be applicable to any large twin-island container ship. However, the proposed innovation could compensate for the capacity lost by gas-powered ships compared to heavy fuel oil (HFO-fuel) vessels, due to the large size of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanks, Container Management quoted Hyundai as saying.
As explained, the concept involves sliding the upper three decks of the accommodation block on a container ship, allowing for containers to be loaded and discharged from the otherwise unused space.
The concept is showed in the video below: