- What is increasing vessel productivity? One element is the sheer size of the ships.
- The 1,300- foot container ship CMA CGM Marco Polo arrived in New York Harbor. It is the largest ship to ever land on the East Coast of the U.S.
- To put its enormity into perspective, it is larger than the Empire State Building. When it first sailed in 2013, it was the largest container ship the world had ever seen.
- Today, it is not even in the top 50 largest container ships.
A recent news published in the El Paso Inc. says that right now, the world’s largest ship is the HMM Algeciras. It is 1,312 feet long and 200 feet wide – the size of 3.64 football fields.
Who will hold the title long?
It will not hold the title long. Mediterranean Shipping Company, an Italian-Swiss venture, has a ship on order to be delivered in 2023 capable of handling 24,232 TEU. These vessels resemble moving cities more than they do ships.
The explosion in ocean shipments has resulted in ports being backed up with cargo ships waiting to be loaded and unloaded.
It also has resulted in a shortage of cargo containers to move products.
What did one owner of a container logistics company say?
One owner of a container logistics company told me that she has run out of 20-foot containers and has been waiting weeks for an order she placed.
So, the next time you put on your clothes, play on your smartphone, hand your child a toy, kick a soccer ball or ride in your Toyota, know that these items probably crossed the ocean in a monster container ship to eventually get to you.
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Source: El Paso Inc.