Maersk giant breaks 18,000 TEU ceiling

Monday, 2 February 2015 00:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MV Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Maersk Line’s Triple E container ship behemoth Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller left the Spain’s Port of Algeciras yesterday loaded with 18,168 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), beating the previous world record held by another Maersk’s Triple E, Maersk Mary, which left the same port back in August 2014 carrying 17,603 TEUs. Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller is carrying the record-breaking load to Tanjung Pelapas in Malaysia. At the time of its entry into service in 2013, Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, the first of 20 Triple E class container ships to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), had the largest cargo capacity in TEU of any vessel, and was the longest ship in service worldwide. With a cargo capacity of 18,270 TEU containers, the ship left the Spanish port with only 102 empty slots. “Personally I am both very proud, and humbled, to be the Captain of the iconic Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller and to be the first vessel to cross the 18.000 TEU limit. All crew members have shared their excitement with cameras, questions, and off course a lot of planning and calculations,” said Captain Niels Vestergaard Pedersen.