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List of largest container ships

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This is a list of container ships with a capacity larger than 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

Container ships have been built in increasingly larger sizes to take advantage of economies of scale and reduce expense as part of intermodal freight transport. Container ships are also subject to certain limitations in size. Primarily, these are the availability of sufficiently large main engines and the availability of a sufficient number of ports and terminals prepared and equipped to handle ultra-large container ships. Furthermore, some of the world's main waterways such as the Suez Canal and Singapore Strait restrict the maximum dimensions of a ship that can pass through them.

In 2016, Prokopowicz and Berg-Andreassen defined a container ship with a capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 TEU as a Very Large Container Ship (VLCS), and one with a capacity greater than 20,000 TEU as an Ultra Large Container Ship (ULCS).[1]

In August 2021, the record for most containers loaded onto a single ship is held by the Ever Ace, which carried a total of 21,710 TEU of containers from Yantian to Europe.[2][needs update]

As of January 2024, the record for the largest container ship is held by MSC's Irina-class with the capacity of 24,346 TEU.

MSC Irina, built in 2023, is one of the largest container ships in the world, with a maximum capacity of approximately 24,346 TEU. Based on the cargo capacity of such vessels, the following estimations can be made:

Due to their small size and light weight, it is estimated that over 100,000 chips can fit in a single 1 TEU container. a 30,000 TEU-class vessel could carry approximately 300 million chips.

Assuming the volume of a single T-shirt is about 0.003 cubic meters, it is possible to load 400 to 500 garments per TEU. This means such a vessel could carry up to 12 million articles of clothing.

The average volume of an SUV is around 12 to 14 cubic meters. Based on this, a container ship of this size could transport an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 SUVs.

Electronic devices such as smartphones are small and lightweight.One TEU container can hold approximately 60,000 to 80,000 smartphones, depending on packaging. Therefore, a 24,000 TEU-class vessel could carry up to 1.5 billion smartphones.

Although grain is typically transported as bulk cargo, it can also be shipped in containers.A single TEU can hold around 20 metric tons of grain.A 24,000 TEU-class vessel could transport up to 480,000 tons,enough to feed more than 15 million people for one month (assuming average daily grain consumption of 1 kg per person).

Unroasted coffee beans have a relatively low density.On average, a TEU can carry about 18 tons of green coffee beans.A 24,000 TEU-class container ship could therefore transport approximately 432,000 tons,which is enough to brew over 400 million cups of coffee (assuming 10 grams of beans per cup).

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Completed ships

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Ships on order

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Container loading records

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See also

References

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