Alphaliner News – Q1 & Q2 2017

20,000+ TEU ships set new size records!

At 21,413 TEU, the OOCL HONG KONG built by Samsung Heavy Industries steals the crown for the largest container ship ever built.

The previous record holder, Daewoo’s (DSME) 20,568 TEU MADRID MAERSK, delivered in April, effectively outranked Samsung’s 20,170 TEU MOL TRIUMPH. A total of 54 ships in the 18,300-21,400 TEU range have been delivered so far, and a further 51 units are due over the next two years, based on Alphaliner records. The cumulated capacity of the 54 units represents 5% of the total cellular capacity currently in service. By comparison, the 51 remaining units represent 35% of the orderbook.

Increased capacities

Despite their capacity differences, all these ships share similar dimensions: lengths range between 395 and 400m, fitting 24 bays of 40 containers. With breadths of between 58.60 and 59.00m, 23 rows of containers can be stowed on deck with 21 rows in holds. However, each series can stow either 11 or 12 standard containers under deck (depending on hull depth) and has different bay distributions due to the different placement of the deckhouse, engine room and funnel. It appears that the 400x60m dimensions currently represent an upper size limit for ship handling under real-life conditions – even in many mainline deep water ports.

Although there is not a single factor that limits shipbuilders and carriers to opt for even larger vessels, a further step up in container-ship sizes would probably require further shore-side investments, which would have to be recouped by supply-chain savings. Instead of building physically larger (longer and wider) vessels, designers have optimized 400x59m ships for higher intakes.

World’s Largest Containerships

		Nominal TEU tdw	LOA m	Breath m	Depth m	Draft m
OOCL HONG KONG 6 units in series from May 2017		21,413 teu 191,317 tdw	399.9	58.8	32.5	16.0
MADRID MAERSK 11 units in series from Apr 2017		20,568 teu 210,019 tdw	399.0	58.6	33.2	16.5
MOL TRIUMPH 6 units in series from Mar 2017		20,170 teu 192,672 tdw	400.0	58.8	32.8	16.0
BARZAN 6 units in series from Apr 2015		19,870 teu 199,744 tdw	400.0	58.6	30.6	16.0
MSC OSCAR 12 units in series from Jan 2015		18,982 teu 197,362 tdw	395.4	59.0	30.3	16.0
CSCL GLOBE 5 units in series from Nov 2014		18,982 teu 184,320 tdw	399.7	58.6	30.5	16.0
Maersk ‘EEE’ 20 units in series from Jun 2013		18,340 teu 194,153 tdw	399.2	59.0	30.3	16.0

New alliances set-up triggers largest reshuffling ever in container shipping

The date 1 April 2017 will be remembered as the day when container shipping witnessed its biggest services-and-fleet reshuffle. Some 700 ships ranging between 4,000 to 21,000 TEU were involved in major services swaps. The reshuffling, triggered by an alliance shake-up, spans several weeks until all these ships fall into place in the service jigsaw. Networks that operated under the four ‘old’ carrier alliances (2M, G6, CKYE, O3) are to be phased out and replaced by revised services under three new alliances (2M+HMM, OCEAN Alliance, THE Alliance).

 

The transition also brings capacity increases across the board with carriers gearing up for the summer peak season, as well as another market-share battle in the Asia-Europe and Transpacific trades. According to latest data collected by Alphaliner, total weekly capacity on the Asia-Europe and Transpacific routes increased by 7.1% and 7.4% respectively in April, compared to March. The new weekly capacities by alliance and by carrier are detailed in the accompanying graph.