Ship That Changed Containerisation Is Ready To Be Scrapped!

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  • Costamare has announced the sale of the largest container vessel ever scrapped.
  • Brokers Braemar ACM report taht the 1997-built 7,403 teu Kokura will be recycled in Bangladesh having fetched a price of $323 per Idt.
  • The Kokura was one of a series of six vessels ordered by A.P. Moller-Maersk that were, by far, the world’s largest containerships at the time.

Sam Chambers writes about how the ship has been sent for scrap and he also discusses elaborately how the ship was a giant one at the time of construction and the Danish carrier understated its real size by nearly 2,00 TEU.

Maersk declares a capacity of 5,500 TEU

Their capacity during construction was however vastly understated, with Maersk having unveiled an order in the summer of 1993 for six ships of 4,800 TEU.  A few months later, Maersk declared a capacity of 5,500 TEU, matching the largest ships then ordered by competitors.

Views of Professor Theo Notteboom

Theo Notteboom, professor in port and maritime economics and management at the University of Antwerp shared his view point on this ship.  Some of his view points are as follows.

This class of ships generated a shock wave in the port and shipping industry in the mid-1990s as it represented a major upscaling compared to the existing Panamax vessels of that time ( typically around 5,000 TEU capacity).

Antwerp and Hamburg ports nervous

He still recalls the nervous reactions in many ports such as Antwerp and Hamburg when these vessels were introduced. The rise of these post-Panamax vessels combined with fast growing international trade resulted in an unprecedented tsunami of terminal expansion and development projects and nautical accessibility programs in ports, particularly in Europe and the Far East.

The capital requirements linked to these vessels and associated (new) terminal facilities triggered the formation of alliances in container shipping since the mid 1990s and the internationalisation of terminal operating companies ( note that Hutchison Ports, PSA and others all went international in the late 1990s).

Kokura and the road to transformation

The Kokura and other post-Panamax ships of that era thus helped to transform the entire container port and shipping business.

South Korean shipbulider Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering this week delivered the 234,964 TEU megamax container vessel HMM Copenhagen, the third of 12 record-breaking megamaxes that HMM is scheduled to receive this year from Korean yards.

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Source: Splash 24×7

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