Danish container shipping major Maersk Line has taken delivery of Madrid Maersk, a 20,568 TEU boxship, from South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the shipping company told World Maritime News.
The ultra large container vessel (ULCV) has become the largest boxship in the world built so far.
The previous record has been shortly held by the recently delivered MOL Triumph, which has a capacity of 20,150 TEU.
The 196,000 gross-ton Madrid Maersk features a length of 399 meters and a width of 58.6 meters.
Maersk Madrid belongs to the 2nd generation of the company’s Triple-E class of vessels and is the first of 11 ships ordered from DSMEback in 2015. Even though the official capacity rating of the ships was set to 19,630 TEU, Maersk Line seems to have modified the design resulting in breaking of the 20,000 TEU mark.
The rest of the fleet is scheduled to join Maersk Line’s fleet between April 2017 and May 2018. They will sail under Danish flag and are intended for the Asia – Europe service, replacing smaller counterparts. In addition, the ships will feature a new hull design and the twin propulsion setup.
The contract is worth USD 1.8 billion. Maersk Madrid is expected to enter into service in late-April.
——World Maritime News Staff
