World's largest container ship is delivered to MSC

The world’s largest container vessel has been delivered by its Chinese shipbuilder.

The Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) has taken delivery of the vessel, which was built by China’s Hudong Zhonghua shipyard, which is part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation. It has an overall capacity of 24,116 TEU.

TEU stands for ‘twenty-foot equivalent unit’, and is a rough measure of cargo capacity as used for container ships and container ports.

The megaship, the MSC Tessa, is the world’s first ship to breach the 24,000 TEU mark, with its extra 112 slots for increased container capacity. It is 400 metres long – 200 feet longer than a typical aircraft carrier. It can stack containers up to 25 layers high.

The Tessa’s design incorporates several features which improve energy efficiency. It uses ‘air lubrication technology’, reducing its energy consumption and carbon emissions by up to 4%. 

MSC currently has 114 ships on order which will have a total capacity of approximately 1.5 million TEU, reports Port Technology. 

The Swiss-based container shipping giant is the largest carrier in the world, with a total capacity of 4,352,617 TEU across 665 ships.

The giant vessel will be calling at Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Felixstowe in Northern Europe, with a call at Tanger during the return trip, before proceeding to Singapore.

Although all its ships currently run on conventional fuel, MSC is looking at more-sustainable options, such as biofuels and LNG dual-fuel vessels. 

The company has already conducted tests with biofuels and plans to increase its usage in the near future.

MSC also recently ordered its first ammonia-ready designs, which are being built in China.