Intro
When it comes to the transportation of goods, mariᴛι̇ɱe ships play a vital role as they carry various commodities such as metals, materials, oil in large quantities, and even the countless Christmas presents people purchase online.
These vessels can hold a lot of cargo, but there are some vessels that are absolutely massive and are filled to the nines before hitting the water for the next few weeks.
So for today’s video, we’re going to be taking a look at the 15 most massive shipping vessels ever designed.
Globetic Tokyo
Number 15: globetic Tokyo.
Alright, kicking off this list is none other than the globetic Tokyo.
This vessel is one of three oil tankers in her class and first made her voyage in February of 1974..
She comes in at 1243 feet long, with a deadweight tonnage capacity of 484 000 tons and a beam length of 203 feet.
At the ᴛι̇ɱe, she was one of the biggest oil tankers in the world, right next to her sister ship, the Globetic London.
But the Globetech Tokyo was built by Ishikawajima Harima Heavy industries in Japan, with a steam-powered turbine with over 45 000 horsepower, geared to a single shaft, and could reach a top speed of 17 knots, and she was incredibly nimble for a ship of her size.
She even had a turning circle shorter than three ᴛι̇ɱes her length and could stop in under three miles with just her single screw in reverse.
And if that fact is too boring for you, then just remember that the next ᴛι̇ɱe you try to parallel park or make a three-point turn in your car on a busy street.
She was big, but she sure knew how to move.
She operated with a great deal of pride for 13 years before being discontinued in 1986, and both she and her sister ship, the London, were sadly scrapped for parts in 2003, but i suppose the globetic Tokyo lives on through the ships that bear her parts.
Sunrise
Number 14: sunrise
The sunrise is a powerful heavy-lift ship built in China in 2012 and now sails waving the Marshall islands flying behind her.
Sunrise was made to haul around some of the biggest equipment in the oceans like no one else can.
She typically has done jobs for construction companies, bringing massive pieces of equipment across the seas, but she’s even ɱaпaged to carry passenger ships as well, and she’s got the girth to do it too, because the sunrise heavy lift ship is over 550 feet long and another 130 feet wide, and how she transports her cargo is pretty cool too.
Like ɱaпy other aquatic vessels of her kind, sunrise is a semi-submersible, so when she needs to pick up her cargo, her body dips down below the surface of the water to accommodate whatever she’s about to carry.
And she can carry a lot too.
She’s got a cargo capacity of 24 600 tons and despite her size and strength she can move pretty quick too through the oceans with her engines that are kicking out over 12 000 horsepower, so she can move up to 13 knots.
Sunrise is undoubtedly a shining star amongst her peers that won’t be burning out anyᴛι̇ɱe soon.
Battleless
Number 13: battleless class super tankers.
For better or worse, the world runs on oil, and while some major companies and corporations are working to turn that around, we’re still drilling for liquid gold.
In the meanᴛι̇ɱe, the battleless class of super tankers are the only ones to really help get those barrels from point a to point B. the flagship vessel, the battleless, was built by shell oil company in 1976.
The shipbuilders did such a great job that more were ordered: the Belyama, the Pierre Guillaume and the prereal, with the latter being completed in 1979.
The original battleless was nearly 1500 feet long and had a deadweight tonnage of well over a quarter million tons.
In fact, these battleless class tankers were so large that they could never even dream of fitting through the Suez Canal.
Luckily, though, they were built specifically to fit through the antifor oil terminal in France.
All that really mattered to this class of super tankers was moving oil, and they were the best at it.
These battleless class tankers spent most of their days traveling back and forth between the Persian Gulf and most of northern Europe and were responsible for the majority of the region’s oil supply, and while they all played an incredibly important role in the european Oil trade, they were all eventually scrapped, with the final sister vessel having been sold and broken down in 2003.
CSCL Globe
Ce Levy number 12: the Cscl Globe in November of 2014, the biggest container transport ship in the world was christened with the name Cscl Globe.
It was ordered by the China shipping container lines just one year prior.
This globe was the first in a series of five ships with a cargo capacity of nineteen thousand twenty foot containers, or Teu.
It was an incredibly big deal at the ᴛι̇ɱe and set the bar for everything that would come after.
You could say that the Cscl Global was the og of the giant freight ships.
This big ship was bought by Hyundai Heavy industries and deployed across the Asia-Europe trade loop.
But just how big is this record breaker?
Well, you’re looking at a length of over 1300 feet long and a gross tonnage of 187 000 tons, and it’s got a 194 foot long beam.
This vessel is working with an electronically controlled engine that outperforms ships of her size in terms of engine efficiency and burns 20 percent less fuel per teu as a result of the feedback she receives from the sea conditions.
And perhaps even more amazing is that this massive ship only needs a crew of 23 people to operate.
And just how much did this and her sister ships cost to build?
You’re looking at a bill of about 700 million dollars, but they’re worth every penny.
MSC Diana
Number 11 Msc Diana, property of the Mediterranean shipping company.
The Msc Diana is a beefy, pegasus-class container ship that sails under the liberian flag.
She is a big one, being able to carry a load of 19 462 20-foot equivalent freight containers at a ᴛι̇ɱe.
So, even as we speak, there’s a good chance she’s carrying your amazon delivery on board, just in ᴛι̇ɱe for that good old two-day shipping.
She’s over 1300 feet long and has a beam length of 191 feet across.
We’re really starting to get up there now.
The Msc Diana was built in just 2016, so she’s a young one with her whole life of shipping ahead of her, and was built by the Samsung shipbuilding and heavy industries company, and when she’s plowing through the seven seas, she’s dragging a dead weight of over two hundred thousand tons.
So, needless to say, she’s pretty hard to miss out there.
Number ten: Ms Veil Brazil.
MS Vale Brazil
It may sound a bit drab, but iron ore really makes the world go round, and if transporting the stuff across the world’s oceans is one of the most important industries in modern society, then i don’t know what is.
The Ms Veil Brazil is designed to ship iron ore from Brazil to the european and asian ports in bulk amounts.
She was launched in December of 2010 and this is the first of seven 400 000 ton ore carriers ordered by the brazilian mining company vail, by a south korean engineering and shipbuilding company, and they’re all the largest bulk carriers ever built.
At 118 feet long, the Ms Vale Brazil is among the longest ships currently in service and she’s got a gross tonnage of 199 000 tons.
That’s a lot of iron ore.
But how wide is she?
Well, her beam length is a nice 213 feet across.
She made her first voyage in May of 2012 and is still hauling the elements around the south african cape route to this day at 15 knots.
But she’s not just one of the longer ships out there.
She’s also the second largest ship currently in service in terms of deadweight tonnage too.
OOCL Hong Kong
Number nine: Oocl Hong Kong the Oocl Hong Kong was launched back in 2017 and since that ᴛι̇ɱe it’s one of the largest container ships in existence, built by the orient overseas container line firm and Samsung industries.
The Oocl Hong Kong is considered by ɱaпy to be a modern marvel of engineering.
She’s got a serious carrying capacity, able to hold twenty one thousand four hundred and thirteen twenty foot equivalent units of cargo, and is over thirteen hundred feet long, 192 feet wide and has a depth of about 107 feet.
This ship is absolutely massive.
She’s currently serving the trade lane from East Asia to Northern Europe under the flag of Hong Kong and is one of the most important shipping vessels sailing along one of the most important trade routes in the world.
She’s pretty tough to miss out there when she’s on the open ocean, not only because of her sheer size, but because of her colors as well.
The Oocl Hong Kong has painted a nice shade of white, but is carrying so ɱaпy 20-foot cargo containers with so ɱaпy different colors that it’s like she’s putting on a show without even trying.
It’s been said that the orient overseas container line commissioned her specifically for the one belt, one road initiative out of China and the signing of the Hong Kong Ac and free trade agreement would open up all new trading that only something of this scale could really handle.
Number eight: mol triumph.
MOL Triumph
The mol triumph, which was built in 2017 by Samsung Heavy industries in goji, South Korea, serves Mitsui Osk Lines, a japanese shipping company, and is one of the first vessels in the world to be able to handle 20 000 teu.
She is quite literally a big deal, and no one can only imagine how long it takes to load and unload all of her cargo, but it really is an all-day event.
She’s totally worth the trouble too, but even when she’s fully loaded, the mol triumph is able to provide a maximum output of 82 000 kilowatts with her ɱaпned Bmw G95 Me engine, and it’s enough power to let her cut through the water at a service speed of 22 knots and a maximum recorded speed of 24 knots.
She’s so big that she’s fast, even when she’s got 20 000 teu worth of cargo.
This ship was also built with some highly advanced energy saving technology, like her low friction, underwater paint, high efficiency rudder and the propeller that reduces the water’s resistance, which helps up the ante on the triumph’s fuel efficiency.
The Blue Marlin
Number seven, the blue Marlin all right, we’ve seen some ships that carry cargo, but how about a cargo ship that carries other cargo ships?
Is such a thing even possible?
Well, the answer is yes.
The blue Marlin is one of the largest ever kind in the world.
Another vessel owned by Dutch Buscalas, the blue marlin is an absolute beast with a cargo capacity of 75 000 tons that has transported things like cargo ships, oil rigs and even aircraft carriers.
One of her more famous pieces of precious cargo is the Uss Cole, a destroyer ship that was attacked in Yemen in the year 2000, and after that job she was given a big upgrade in 2003, when they gave her a larger carrying capacity and another two retractable propulsers for extra mobility.
In the strange world of heavy lift vessels, the blue marlin is practically a celebrity.
She’s even been featured on television twice, after moving an oil platform and another gas refinery from Spain to Norway in just 11 days.
The blue Marlin is physically just as big as a reputation, measuring it at 712 feet long, 138 feet wide and with a deck area of nearly 121 000 square feet.
Her deck alone is the size of two soccer pitches.
But unlike some of the previous entries on this list, the blue marlin only needs to accommodate up to 55 crew members at a ᴛι̇ɱe.
And she’s strong too, with her engines cranking out an impressive 17 000 horsepower.
MSC Gulsun
The blue Marlin has ship enthusiasts around the globe feeling anything but blue number six: Msc Ghoulson.
The Msc gulsun has the honor of being the fourth largest container ship in the world as of 2022.
This cargo ship was built by Samsung Heavy industries and is registered in Panama, and currently operates under the Mediterranean shipping company and is one of the first vessels in history to be able to transport 24 container rows side by side.
That fact may sound a little boring, but considering the fact that so ɱaпy of us are used to that precious two-day shipping from Amazon, the Msc Golson plays an important role in the shipping world, and it may be safe to say that she’s an unsung hero.
She is absolutely massive, with a width of over 200 feet, which is one of the widest out there on the ocean, and she’s over 1300 feet long too.
She’s lugging around 23 756 teus at a ᴛι̇ɱe, and because she has such a large carrying capacity that means she can do the work of multiple smaller cargo ships, therefore moving cargo around the world while leaving behind a much smaller carbon footprint.
Keeping all those containers safe and sound is of the utmost importance, which is why the Msc gulsun is equipped with the dual tower firefighting system.
Pierre Guillermo
Number five: Pierre Guillermo.
There are oil tankers and then there are super tankers, which is exactly what the next entry on this list is.
The super attacker, known as the Pierre Diamond, was built in the year 1977 and falls under the battleless class of super tankers named after a former french minister of the armies under the famous Charles de Gaulle.
The pier guillermo is absolutely huge, with a length close to 1400 feet and a deadweight touch of more than half a million tons.
But the life of this oil tanker is an interesting one because it only served for six years, which is a considerably short amount of ᴛι̇ɱe for an oil tanker.
By the ᴛι̇ɱe it was completed, the use of crude oil was in a general state of decline and the vessel was literally too big to operate in ɱaпy ports because she couldn’t fit through the major sea passages like the Suez or Panama canals.
There were only so ɱaпy places she could actually go.
But in 1983 the vessel was sold to the Hyundai corporation and had her name changed to the Ulsan master.
But just one short year after the change in ownership she was scrapped, and so while the Pierre Guillermo may not be sailing anymore, her parts and legacy are still floating around all over the world.
Prairie Owl
Number four: prairie owl.
The Prairie Al oil tanker was built in the year 1977 in the shantia Del antique shipyard in France, which is the same shipyard as the last entry on this list.
So it’s safe to say that anything coming out of there is going to go down in history.
The prairie owl comes in at over 1300 feet in length and has some serious carrying capacity of 555 000 tons.
She was a Ul Cc or ultra large crude carrier, and was powered by four big ᴛι̇ɱe strollerval steam turbine engines that generated 65 000 horsepower and they ran 24 hours a day.
The prairie Al had three sister ships, but she saw the longest service life, going from 1977 to 2003.
That’s a solid 30 years in the oil business.
Anyone lucky enough to call themselves a member of their crew saw much of the world during that ᴛι̇ɱe, and at the tail end of her service life.
The prairie was sold more than once, with multiple name changes, ending her career as the sea giant.
In 2003, she finally went out of service and was scrapped in Pakistan.
Number three: hawk heavy lift.
Hawk Heavy Lift
The Hawk heavy lift goes back a bit, having been built in Croatia in 1989 for the norwegian fleet.
She’s big enough to accommodate her large platform that typically carries the giant parts for offshore facilities, someᴛι̇ɱes even the entire facilities themselves.
But just how big is it?
Well, the hawk heavy lift is a whopping 740 feet long with a width of 155 feet across.
It’s also got a cargo capacity of 64 000 tons.
She’s the perfect heavy lift vessel to haul around things like entire drilling platforms and wind turbines.
She really is carrying some of the largest cargo in the world, and it kind of looks like one tilt to the left and it’s all falling to the bottom of the ocean.
But thanks to her incredibly high capacity ballast system, that doesn’t happen, and with some great engines that kick out over 18 000 horsepower, she’s traveling through the seas with a heavy load at a speed of 14 knots.
Ever Ace
This is one hawk that’s not to be messed with, number two: the ever ace.
The ever ace isn’t just one of the coolest cargo ships around, but, as of 2022, it’s one of the largest container ships in the world.
She’s about 1312 feet long, with a width of about 201 feet across, which gives her a carrying capacity of just under 24 000 20 foot equivalent units.
She’s large enough and strong enough to hold on to 24 rows of side-by-side containers, one of the few in the world to achieve such a feat.
The Eva Race is from South Korea and was built by the acclaimed Samsung Heavy industries, who’ve had a hand in creating some of the best and most promising shipping vessels sailing on the surface of the ocean.
Today, this is another massive shipping vessel that ɱaпages to reduce the carbon footprint of the industry as a whole because of her sheer carrying capacity.
More containers on one ship means fewer small ships running out, polluting the air and popping holes in the precious ozone layer.
This vessel has a killer engine, a two-stroke Vartsila engine comprised of 11 cylinders pumping out a whopping 70 950 kilowatts of power, which allows her to hit a cruising speed of 22.6 knots, which, if you were on land, would be about 26 miles an hour.
But because the ever race is still so young, her bright green paint job is still intact and makes her one of the most vibrant and noticeable shipping vessels out there.
It is a true marvel to see her coming in and out of port, and just imagine how long it takes to get all those containers on and off.
QMAX
Number one: Qmax.
The Qmax ships aren’t just the largest of their kind, but they’re some of the largest ships ever in the world.
They’re membrane type liquefied natural gas carriers with a gross tonnage of 162 400 gross tons and go on for over 1100 feet in length- the length of over seven football fields.
So imagine how long it would take to walk from one end to the other, especially before you’ve had your morning coffee.
They’ve got a carrying capacity of well over 9 million cubic feet that travel at a speed of 19 and a half knots in the ocean.
Their width is 177 feet across.
That’s one mean beam.
Right now, there are 14 of these qmac ships in circulation and, seeing as how the queue of their namesake stands for Qatar, every ship in the Max Fleet bears an arabic name, like Al-Samria and rashida, and the first of these 14 wide ships were completed in 2007, and they’re all able to dock at the Lng terminals in Qatar despite their size, and can even fit into the Suez Canal.
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