Pages

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

MAERSK TRIPLE E: THE “WORLD’S LARGEST SHIP” BEING BUILT IN SOUTH KOREA


wpsBC00.tmp
Must See: ‘World’s Largest Ship’ Being Built in South Korea
By Alyn Wallace,
Interesting Engineering, 14 October 2014.

The stunning images below were taken by photographer Alastair Philip Wiper at Opko, a port in South Korea, showing the construction of the world’s largest container ship - the Maersk Triple E (the title for largest ship goes to the Prelude FLNG). Maersk made an order back in 2011 for twenty of the vessels to be built by Daewoo Shipping at a cost of US$3.8 billion in total.

wps8E17.tmp

The Triple E class is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide, making it only 3 meters longer and 4 meters wider than its predecessor, the E class. Despite this small increase in size, a U-shaped hull design over more of a V-shape means that there is still an increase in the shipping capacity of the vessel to 18,270 TEU containers, 2500 more.

wps6667.tmp

The draft is 14 meters which is too deep to pass through the Panama Canal, but it can pass through the Suez canal between Europe and Asia. Maersk plans to use the ship for just that route, predicting an increase in Chinese exports. Asia-Europe trade is already the companies largest market and it currently has 100 ships dedicated to this route.

wps8B31.tmp

You don’t feel like you’re inside a boat, it’s more like a cathedral,” photographer Wiper says. “Imagine this space being full of consumer goods, and think about how many there are on just one ship. Then think about how many are sailing round the world every day. It’s like trying to think about infinity.

wps27A1.tmp

The ship features a dual 32 MW (43,000 hp) ultra-long-stroke, two-stroke diesel engines and together with a strategy known as slow steaming (where ships travel at slower than top speed), there is an expected 37% reduction in fuel consumption and 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per container. The top speed is 23 knots.

wpsCEBF.tmp

They are designed with a ‘twin-skeg’ propulsion system (two engines and two propellers) with the propellers being 9.8 meters in diameter and featuring 4 blades. They are made at Mecklenburger Metallguss GmbH in Germany and weigh 70 tonnes apiece.

wpsF8B9.tmp

The Triple E name comes from the company’s design principles: “Economy of scale, energy efficient and environmentally improved.

wpsD6C6.tmp

Each motor drives a separate propeller and where usually a single motor is more efficient, the better distribution of pressure using two propellers increases their efficiency to be worth the disadvantages of having two motors. It also allows the engines to be lower and further back, opening up more space for cargo.

wps6CCD.tmp

Photographer Alastair Philip Wiper met Captain Lars Peter Jensen of the 9th of the Triple E class to be built, the Matz Maersk. Jensen has worked for Maersk for 42 years and has served as captain on each of the four previous “largest ships in the world.” He will be joined aboard by a 15 man crew when the vessel is at sea.

wps610.tmp
wps7045.tmp
wpsFE0F.tmp
wps68C0.tmp
wps43EF.tmp


Photography: Alastair Philip Wiper

Bonus video: Watch sea trials from the first Triple E vessel:


Top image: Rendering of the Triple-E class. Credit: Maersk.

[Source: Interesting Engineering. Edited. Top image added.]


No comments:

Post a Comment

Please adhere to proper blog etiquette when posting your comments. This blog owner will exercise his absolution discretion in allowing or rejecting any comments that are deemed seditious, defamatory, libelous, racist, vulgar, insulting, and other remarks that exhibit similar characteristics. If you insist on using anonymous comments, please write your name or other IDs at the end of your message.