With a whopping 24,116 TEU capacity, an apparently so-far unnamed box ship has been “undocked” by the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group from the Changxing Shipbuilding base.
The new vessel can carry about 112 more TEU than the previous top record holder, the Panama-flagged “Ever Alot” (IMO 9893955), which was proclaimed to be the world’s biggest a mere few months ago.
The new vessel is declared to be the world’s biggest by Hudong-Zhonghua – which should know as, after all, it also built the Ever Alot.
The new ship will be delivered to the Mediterranean Shipping Company and will be classed by DNV. It is 399.99 metres long, with a beam of 61.5 metres, a height of “22 floors”, and the capacity to load 240,000 tons of cargo.
The ship is equipped with a hybrid scrubber desulfurization unit, a “unique” bulbous bow design, large diameter propellers and a bubble drag system that will reduce carbon emissions by 3% to 4%. In a first, it also uses a “shaft generator system,” that will reduce fuel consumption.
The shipbuilder reports that it has orders for a further four such ships.
