Size is an argument for protecting the environment. Bigger ships are more fuel efficient per teu/mile, and that matters in a time and age when carbon emissions and fuel efficiency are on everybody’s agenda, but only if you can fill the ship with boxes.
In this issue we present some cutting-edge designs from Korea and Europe. We have all seen the Emma Maersk series in the news, and our editor has visited the shipyard that built the first, talking to the people that accepted the challenge and built the world’s largest container ship. In Korea, designs now available tout an impressive 16,000 teu capacity, which goes way beyond what we have seen so far. So these behemoths can be built, but there are challenges to be tackled – both commercial and technical ones. We discuss some of them in this issue.
So, will it all be about size in the years to come?
When Malcom MacLean took the first step some 50 years ago, he did something that was new and very different. Maybe we also have to ‘think outside the box’ when looking to the future. Our Arctic specialist has a say in this issue about reducing the length of voyages by finding new trading routes. Global warming is changing the ice-infested seas of the Arctic. If we could run container ships through the North West passage from Asia to the USA and Europe, we could cut voyages by weeks. That would also be good for the environment.
27.1 million containers were handled in the Port of Singapore 2007, or about 16,000 kilometres of containers if placed after one another.
Photo: Magne A. Røe