Article Excerpt:
Marine Maersk- Strong winds towering waves and thousands of tons of force and all of this is still not enough to sink a container ship. Let’s take a look at the Marine Maersk; this is a triple E-class container ship and exactly 31 were built worldwide. The one you’re looking at right now is registered at the Port of Heller up in Denmark. A Danish shipping company is operating this giant container ship. Each of the 31 vessels sold for 190 million. They are 1312 feet long, 193 feet wide, and stand at a towering height of 240 feet. The “three e’s” in the class stand for; economy of scale, environmentally improved, and energy efficient.
Analysis:
The true size of the container ships that sail our oceans is hard to grasp. This video offers some insight into the nature of these vessels, as well as the types of technology used to cater to an object this size. Many supplementary devices such as cranes and tugboats must be used to aid these ships in their docking and unloading.
I was interested to find out that there seems to be no structural limitations for how big these vessels can get, however they are limited in size due to the channels and canals that they have to pass through. It seems to me that “Bigger” doesn’t always mean “better,” as the additional work, time, and devices required to aid these massive ships functions may, in some ways, outweigh the benefit of the large allotted area for storage.
