World’s Largest Containerships On Order By TEU Capacity

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Containership size continues to grow with ever increasing consumer demand and globalization. These containerships are currently active in routes connecting Asia to Europe mostly challenging the terminals infrastructure they may berth at next. The lines and the shipyards are pushing larger and larger vessels to the routes at a rapid pace. It isn’t out of the question that we may see 30,000 TEU vessels by the end of the decade. Possibly 50,000 TEU ships further down the road given if engineering and physics allow for a vessel of that magnitude (double the capacity of the largest vessels today).

The shipping lines mass order vessels from shipyards typically in quantities more than 2 in contracts reaching millions, if not billions of dollars. Therefore, they get vessels of the exact same specifications on the routes they plan to use the vessels on. Vessels of the same specification and same line are grouped together to avoid excessive duplicates. The exact specifications of a vessel including draft, length, and beam are usually unknown until the vessel is registered with the International Maritime Organization and seen publicly on marine traffic. Most container terminals are preparing for ships with drafts approaching 50 feet or more and beams where vessels are over 1,300 feet long, 200 feet wide (26 containers wide), and 100 feet or more (12 containers high on deck). This list includes the largest vessels on order by container capacity per vessel measured in TEU broken up by Line and order size.

1. 24,232 TEUs MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company). Scheduled for completion 2023. 10 vessels — three shipyards (Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding 4, Jiangnan Shipyard 4, Yangzijang Shipbuilding 2)
2. 24,004 TEUs Evergreen. Scheduled for completion 2022. 8 vessels — two shipyards (Jiangnan Shipyard 4, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding 4)
3. 24,000 TEUs ONE (Ocean Network Express). Scheduled for completion 2023. 6 vessels — two shipyards (Imabari Shipbuilding and Japan Marine United)
4. 24,000 TEUs Seaspan ULC. Scheduled for completion 2023. 2 vessels — shipyard unknown
5. 23,992 TEUs Evergreen. Scheduled for completion 2022. 6 vessels — Samsung Heavy Industries
6. 23,500 TEUs Hapag Lloyd. Scheduled for completion 2023. 12 vessels — Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering

7. 23,000 TEUs OOCL (Orient Overseas Container Line). Scheduled for completion 2023. 12 vessels — two shipyards (Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering 6, Dailan COSCO KHI Ship Engineering 6)

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