World’s Longest Container Ship

cargo ships

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Emma Maersk is the longest container ship in existence stretching to 397 meters in length. If you are lucky enough to come close to Emma, you might want to take several steps back because you could only take a panoramic photo to capture her mighty splendor. The AP Moller-Maersk Group in Denmark own and operate Emma telling her to transport enormous quantity of all types of products to China, Honkong, Malaysia, and back to Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and her home port in Taarbaek, Denmark.

The birth of Emma Maersk

building container ships

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Emma Maersk was born in one of the dry docks of Odense Steel Shipyard in Odense, Denmark. Odense Steel Shipyard is a pioneer when it comes to introducing behemoth, ironclad ships and innovative vessel technologies – it’s been building the world’s biggest ships since 1996. The container ship was officially named after Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller’s wife, Emma, in August 12, 2006 making her ready for her maiden voyage on September 8, 2006. From the drawing board to an actual, floating Maersk asset, Emma costs $145,000,000 plus to make, which Maersk hopes to regain plus more during the ship’s lifetime.

Emma Maersk specifications

cargo ship capacity

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Emma can carry 11,000 twenty-foot containers based on Maersk own TEU calculations, which takes into account the weight of an average 20-foot container of about 14 tons. Base on standard TEU calculations on the other hand, the container ship can carry well over 13,500 TEU. (Some even estimated that she can carry over 15,000 TEU.) From the tip of the bow to the tip of the stern, the container ship stretches to 397 meters, more than a quarter of a kilometer. She can cruise at a sustain speed of 25.5 knots through her Wartsila 14RT-Flex96c 40,000 horsepower from 5 Caterpillar 8M32 engine .

Some fun and not-so-fun facts about Emma

worl's longest container ship

Although Emma Maersk is a big container ship, she can be optimally operated by a mere 13 crew, and its crew accommodation facilities have enough room for 30 people. Its sheer size and simplified, almost all automated operation are definitely a bonus to the crew onboard. Because of her unmatched grandeur in the container ship category, she was featured in the Discovery Channel’s Mighty Ships documentary program that aired in Canada and some parts of the world. But it was not all calm waters for Emma Maersk. She experienced a fire in the crew accommodation and bridge area during her construction, which needed to be overhauled to comply with safety standards again. The worst thing about her is that she’s heavily criticized for using bunker fuel which has sulfur content of more than 2000 times than car fuel oil.

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