One of world's biggest container ships arrives in the UK
news.sky.com
news.sky.com
“HMM Algeciras” is the first of twelve 24,000 TEU class vessels scheduled to be sequentially delivered until September 2020 out of a total of 20, with the balance 8 planned for delivery from second quarter of 2021 onwards."
BAM!
edit: [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Merchant_Marine
Living in Hamburg with its port since 2004 it was exiting at first, to see these large ships come and go, and the rumbling sounds they make when they are turned around by tug-boats on the river, to even fit into their berths. Altough they weren't that large by then. Then the little economic hiccup [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80... happened, and it seemed to me like less ships come and go. Anyways, they got larger, and larger, and then it was almost boring, like almost every month in the local press: "Largest container ship ever first time in port!" Oh, really? Again?
Anyways, when I'm at home, awake and hear some fog-horn honking from afar, I open [4] https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:9.846/cent... to see who it is :)
Right now [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMA_CGM_Alexander_von_Humboldt is leaving port destined for Rotterdam. Made headlines also, a while ago.
It reminds me a little bit of the very incremental improvements in CPUs since about 2005. One could do this and that, but it would be uneconomical. The same goes for these giants. Any larger, and they have less ports to dock, because they don't fit, can't pass through channels, or twist and warp too much in rough seas with current materials. So it is slow steaming with greener engines instead.
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_steaming
Funny Captain playing Star Wars theme on the horn of MSC Zoe in 2015 :)
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DMd1ddl68 (4m33s)
HMM Algeciras a week ago in Hamburg during docking
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZdIJFdP3AM (5m16s)