THE BIGGEST CONTAINER SHIP

Ten Biggest Container Ship Classes, listed by TEU capacity
Built	Name	Sisterships	Length o.a.	Beam	Maximum TEU	GT	Owners	Flag
2006	Emma Mærsk	6	397.7 m	56.4 m	15,200	151,687	Maersk Line	Denmark
2005	Gudrun Mærsk	5	367.3 m	42.8 m	10,150	97,933	Maersk Line	Denmark
2006	Xin Los Angeles	6	336.7 m	45.6 m	9,600 [10]	107,200	CSCL	Hong Kong
2006	COSCO Guangzhou	4	350 m	42.8 m	9,450[11]	99,833	COSCO	Greece
2006	CMA CGM Medea	3	350 m	42.8 m	9,415[12]	99,500	CMA CGM	France
2003	Axel Mærsk	5	352.6 m	42.8 m	9,310	93,496	Maersk Line	Denmark
2006	NYK Vega	2	338.2 m	45.6 m	9,200	97,825	Nippon Yusen Kaisha	Panama
2005	MSC Pamela	5	336.7 m	45.6 m	9,178	90,500	MSC	Liberia
2006	MSC Madeleine	1	348.5 m	42.8 m	9,100	107,551	MSC	Liberia
2006	Hannover Bridge	2	336 m	45.8 m	9,040	89,000	K Line	Japan

 

 

HISTORY OF CONTAINER SHIPS

The earliest container ships were converted  tankers, built up from surplus T2 tankers after World War II. In 1951 the first purpose-built container vessels began operating in Denmark, and between Seattle and Alaska. On November 26, 1955 the purpose-built container ship Clifford J. Rodgers,^[1] carried 600 containers between North Vancouver, British Columbia and Skagway, Alaska.

The first purpose-built container ship in the United States was the Ideal-X ^[2], a converted T2, owned by Malcom McLean, which carried 58 metal containers between Newark, New Jersey and Houston, Texas on its first voyage, in April 1956.

Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container, and modern container ships can carry up to 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). As a class, container ships now rival crude oil tankers and bulk carriers as the largest commercial vessels on the ocean.