The Machada del One overcoming the container record on board

Much of the world economy moves by boat. HE esteem That between 80% and 90% of merchandise trade around the world is transported by boat, and to sustain that spine, we need huge ships. There the Porteneroauthentic titans that seem a lie that are maintained on the water and that are capable of transporting, of a tacada, a couple of tens of thousands of large containers. There are no larger ships than the “new” Megamax class.

And within it is one who has just burst the transport record: The One Innovation.

Megamax. It is the largest class of modern boring partners. It emerged as a natural evolution of the ULCV, or ‘Ultra Large Container Vessels’, because it seems that wearing 20,000 TEU was not enough for current trade. Teu means ‘Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit’, a standard for containers that allows us to compare between ships and that means that if a ship can transport 20,000 TEU, it can move 20,000 containers.

If the ULCV moved that amount, the megamax can between 21,000 and 25,000 TEU, being able to load 24 rows of containers … wide. It is an absolute barbarity and is touching the limit of what a channel like Suez’s can house: if they were wider, accidents could occur Or, directly, Do not go through the channel. And taking into account the Importance of these few points in world tradeor widen the passages, or accommodate the ships …

One Innovation. Is the name of Third type of largest container of the world. Its capacity is 24,136 TEU and is only behind the OOCL Spain (and the rest of the OOCL megamax class) with its 24,188 TEU and the MSC Irina (and the rest of the MSC Megamax) with its enormous Capacity for 24,346 TEU. To house so much load, the dimensions They are up to it:

• 399.95 meters long.
• 61.4 meters wide.
• Depth of 33.2 meters.
• 16.5 meter draft.

It is like a Empire State Buildingbut horizontally and floating. And it has the ability to transport 25 container levels (imagine a container pyramid, go), with 24 rows along, another 24 wide and 2,000 of those containers having connection with cooling systems.

The other ships look like toy

Record. Reaching the maximum capacity of each ship is complex. In fact, the three mentioned are extremely similar in size, but that one can with 200 containers more than another respond to issues of logistics and internal organization rather than to the dimensions of the ship. How to play a game of ‘Tetris‘Superoptimized, ultimately.

Well, despite being the one that has the most capacity, the One Innovation has just beat the capacity record on a trip. Again. If a couple of years ago you already set the 22,000 TEU brand, this September He did it again with 22,233 teu loaded in a single operation in the port of Singapore (One of the most important on the planet).

Complex logistics. In terms of capacity, it represents 92% of their maximum, so they can continue experimenting to load even more. Now, this is not something that can be done in any port. The One Innovation is designed for the Asia-Europa route, being able to stop in strategic ports such as Xiamen, Singapore, Rotterdam, Southampton or Algeciras.

It is a connection between the main Asian and European centers, for which a very specific machinery is needed that manages to load and download huge amounts of containers. And this is something that not all ports are designed or can face. We talk about channels about 20 meters deep, cranes of about 70 meters of range and lengths between 450 and 500 meters so that ships can dock. That without counting the necessary defenses in case there are accidents or calculation failures.

Necessary (and we will surely go more). As we say, ships of this size are necessary and are constantly used both for efficiency when moving a lot Energy efficiency. Instead of making multiple trips, in one and thanks to that massive capacity, it can move load through the world.

In addition, they seem essential if the wishes of the ‘are fulfilled’New Silk Route‘That China is promoting to create more efficient trade routes between Asia and Europe, but also with Africa, a region in which China has enormous interest both for its resources as for enhance markets such as cars.

Images | Shotbyp4ul, Kees Torn

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