Its longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall , wider than the width of a football field and it can officially hold 11,000 20-foot-long shipping containers, though some suggest it can pack in even more.
And it floats.
Next month, the Emma Maersk, the worlds largest container ship, will enter service between Asia and Europe, hauling toys, electronics, clothing, and whatever else can be packed into steel boxes. The vessel, bigger than an aircraft carrier, will hold at least 1,400 more containers than any of the other 3,700 container-carrying vessels now plying the seas. Its capacity will greatly exceed the size of vessels regularly calling on the port of Hampton Roads; those vessels typically can hold between 4,000 and 5,000 20-foot-long containers.
Thats a lot of containers, David Tozer said of the Emma Maersks 11,000-container capacity as reported by its owner, Maersk Line. Tozer oversees the worldwide container ship inspection program for London-based Lloyds Register, which certifies the seaworthiness of ships.
Yet Tozer and other industry experts say Maersks figure understates the ships true capacity. Based on its 1,303-foot length and 184-foot width, they estimate it could carry up to nearly 15,000 20-foot containers.
