Posted on 01/10/2015 2:42:08 PM PST by moose07
The world's largest container ship, the Globe, is docking in Britain for the first time as it continues its maiden voyage. But how vast and powerful is it and how long until it's superseded?
Size
The Globe is more than 400m (1,312ft) long, the equivalent of eight Olympic-size swimming pools. It is 56.8m (186ft) wide and 73m (240ft) high, its gross tonnage is 186,000 - the equivalent of 14,500 London buses, according to the Port of Felixstowe, where it arrived on Wednesday.
But the record-breaking aspect of the Globe, owned by Shanghai-based China Shipping Container Lines and built in South Korea, is its capacity. It can carry 19,100 standard 20ft containers. That's estimated to be enough space for 156 million pairs of shoes, 300 million tablet computers or 900 million standard tins of baked beans.
Laid end-to-end, the maximum number of containers on board would stretch for 72 miles, the distance between Felixstowe and London, or Birmingham and Manchester.
"You would feel dwarfed by the Globe," says Damian Brett, container expert at Lloyd's List shipping publication. "It's like an office block lying on its side. It's a huge beast."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
“But the main problem facing world shipping at the moment is that there’s too much of it for the amount of cargo in circulation. This has increased competition between firms.”
So the biggest ships can offer the lowest price?
Any bets on how long before they lose one of these behemoths?
I have a gamble with you. (IronJack)
$50 to Jim if one sinks this year.
1,000 ft ore carriers have been plying the Great Lakes for decades. Their size is limited by the Soo Locks.
And can be converted into a Chinese-flagged aircraft carrier in how many months?
What does it return with? I’m sure it doesn’t return empty?
-— It can carry 19,100 standard 20ft containers -—
Crazy.
I watched “On the Waterfront” recently and noticed that containers weren’t standardized even in the 50s.
Money.
Most of these ships do a round the world run of about 40days +/-, picking up and dropping off en route.
Let’s hope they designed this one so that the front doesn’t fall off.
Standard? That would spoil all the fun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_container
Yes, bigger ships can result in lower costs.
First assume we have a ship that carries 5000 containers; now built a ship that carries 20,000 containers. The crew size will be about the same, maybe a few more but certainly not four times as many. The engines will be bigger on the larger ship but not four times as big. And finally, surface area related to cost of hull construction but volume determines container capacity. Consider a box 10x10x10. Volume 1000 cu feet. Consider a box 20x20x20 8000 cu feet. Surface area-front, back, two sides, top and bottom. 6x10x10 = 600 sq ft. for the small box. 6x20x20= 2400 sq feet. So surface area quadruples but volume increases by a factor of 8.
That’s one impressive vessel!
And 28 foot draft.
They are beautiful to watch as they coast up the channel, but you do wonder: How much more cheap Chinese crap have we just imported?
I saw a very large (seemed to me) tractor trailer last night with the words Dollar General on the side.
It’s hard to believe they sell that much of that crap. And that’s just one truck.
Indeed! That’s a lot of CCCC (Cheap Chinese Crap Containers) on that mighty ship!
...more than 400m (1,312ft) long... 56.8m (186ft) wide and 73m (240ft) high, its gross tonnage is 186,000... enough space for 156 million pairs of shoes, 300 million tablet computers or 900 million standard tins of baked beans. Laid end-to-end, the maximum number of containers on board would stretch for 72 miles...That's a lot of Lego!
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