Emma Maersk ships are presently the biggest containerships in the world, carrying up to 13,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit)… Not for long! The South Korean Group STX Shipbuilding is working on the design of a 22,000 TEUs cargo… The company, which recently took over 39.2% of Aker Yards capital (European shipbuilder), also announced it will increase the production capacity of its South Korean construction plants (Busan and Jinhae) by 20%, from 50 to 60 ships delivered per year.

This new huge containership will be 450 metres long, 50 metres wide, and might, according to STX Shipbuilding, save as much as 40% of fuel per TEU transported. However the South Korean shipbuilder does not have a client yet for this new kind of boat.

Double the size: is this the way to save money?

These containerships will be almost twice the size of the biggest cargos that are delivered nowadays… I would like to raise one question: is this really the best way to reduce costs, and gas consuption? It is clear that massifying more and more transport flows allows to reduce the “per-TEU” cost but bigger ships (and 22,000 TEUs are “quite bigger”) also need bigger infrastructures: first of all, neither every port authority will be able to welcome such containerships, nor they will be able to invest in infrastructure improvements… It might be necessary to look somewhere elso for costs and fuel expenses reductions.

It might definitely be an option now to think about more “alternative” transport modes, even the wild-looking ones, for example those who have been forgotten since a long time ago. Since we are not living anymore in an era where “time is money”, why not looking back couple decades/centuries ago to find more fuel- and cost-efficient, and more environmentally friendly solutions. Why do I say that “time is not money anymore?” Since “fast” delivery almost necessarily means more energy consumption, “going faster” becomes more and more expensive, because fuel prices get higher and higher: loosing time (on non-time-sensitive transport operations) to save fuel may now be a new way for companies to make benefits…

We have seen examples of passenger and cargo ships equipped with a sail, that is deployed when wind is strong enough, to save fuel on long transoceanic trips, and other fuel efficient solution come out eventually. It is not absurd to think about even more extreme solutions in the near future: zeppelin, sailing freight boats for short sea shipping, etc. Since Deutsche Bahn experimented the operation of a train between China and Germany (see References from the Transport Information Group below), and will probably start a regular operation in the near future, I would bet that new propositions will come from shippers and carriers to find alternatives to fuel (and dollars) consumption. Who would have said 10 years ago that we would ship by train over 10,000 kilometres? Never say never…

References

  • Article: STX Shipbuilding planche sur un porte-conteneurs de 22.000 EVP !, Mer et Marine, Jun. 4, 2008: here

References from the Transport Information Group