![Emma Mærsk 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Emma_M%C3%A6rsk_5.jpg)
''Emma Mærsk'' is the first
container ship
A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...
in the of eight owned by the
A. P. Moller-Maersk Group. When launched in 2006, she was the largest container ship ever built, and in 2010 she and her seven
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s were among the
longest container ships. Officially, she is able to carry around or 14,770 TEU depending on definition. In May 2010, her sister ship set a record of in
Tanger-Med
Tanger Med (in Arabic: طنجة المتوسط ) is a Moroccan industrial port complex, located 45 km northeast of Tanger and opposite of Tarifa, Spain (15 km north) on the Strait of Gibraltar, with handling capacities of 9 million containers, one ...
,
Tangier
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...
.
History
''Emma Mærsk'' was built at the
Odense Steel Shipyard
Odense Steel Shipyard ( da, Odense Staalskibsværft) was a Danish shipyard company located in Odense. It was best known for building container ships for its parent group, A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, including the Mærsk E class in 2006 whic ...
in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. In June 2006, during construction,
welding
Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...
work caused a fire within the
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
.
[Miranda Max]
"The Secret Story Of Building The World’s Largest Container Ship"
, shippinginsouthafrica.wordpress.com; accessed 5 March 2015. It spread rapidly through the accommodation section and
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, which delayed her completion by six to seven weeks.
She was named in a ceremony on 12 August 2006, after
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller
Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (; 13 July 1913 – 16 April 2012) was a Danish shipping magnate. He was a longtime figure at A.P. Moller–Maersk Group, which was founded by his father.
Personal life
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was born in Hell ...
's late wife, Emma. On 16 August 2006, five tugboats dragged Emma Maersk from her Danish shipyard and towed her backward to the sea. She set sail on her maiden voyage on 8 September 2006 at 02:00 hours from
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, calling at
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
,
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
,
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
Algeciras
Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...
, the
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
, and arrived in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
on 1 October 2006 at 20:05 hours. She sailed the next day for
Yantian
Yantian District () is one of the nine districts of the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is adjacent to Shenzhen River and Hong Kong to the south, and is surrounded by Luohu, Longgang and Pingshan districts of Shenzhen.
Before 1960s, th ...
in
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
, then
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
,
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...
, arriving at
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
on 10 October 2006, and returning via Shenzhen,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Tanjung Pelepas
The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP, UN/Locode: MYTPP) is a container port located in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia, and is part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, which holds a minority share in the joint ventur ...
, the Suez Canal,
Felixstowe
Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London.
His ...
, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Gothenburg to Aarhus, arriving on 11 November 2006 at 16:00 hours.
In 2008, the ship was featured on an episode of the television documentary series ''
Mighty Ships
''Mighty Ships'' is a documentary television program produced by Exploration Production Inc. in Canada and aired on Discovery Channel Canada and also broadcast around the world. Each episode of the series follows a particular sea-going vessel ...
'', during a voyage between Malaysia and Spain.
In 2011, the
National Bank of Denmark
Danmarks Nationalbank (in Danish often simply ''Nationalbanken'') is the central bank of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is a non-eurozone member of the European System of Central Banks ( ESCB). Since its establishment in 1818, the objective of the ...
issued a 20
DKK commemorative coin
Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...
for her.
Going eastwards on 1 February 2013, she suffered a damaged
stern
The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...
thruster and took on so much water in the Suez Canal that she became unmaneuverable.
Tugs, anchors and the wind took her to
Port Said
Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...
to offload 13,500 containers, drain her and be investigated by divers. She had not been in danger of sinking.
On 15 February 2013, the Maersk Line confirmed that she was about to leave Port Said under tow to a yard for further assessment and repair. On 25 February she reached the yard of
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, where she was scheduled to stay for four months. The flooded engine was disassembled, repaired and assembled, and in August 2013, she was in service again after a DKK 250 million (roughly US$44.5m) repair.
Capacity
Originally Maersk reported a capacity of 11,000 TEU (
twenty-foot equivalent unit
The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...
s) as the maximum capacity of fully loaded 14 ton containers, according to Maersk company's then method of calculating capacity, which, at her introduction into service, was about 1,400 more containers than any other ship.
However, Maersk also acknowledges the standard method of defining capacity, stating 14,770 TEU.
[Vessels](_blank)
''Maersk Line'', 1 June 2010; accessed 16 June 2010.
By normal calculations, she has a capacity significantly greater than reported—between 13,500 and 15,200 TEU. The difference between the official and estimated numbers is because Maersk calculates the capacity of a container ship by weight (in this case, 14 tons/container), i.e. 11,000+ containers, of which 1,000 can be
refrigerated container
A refrigerated container or reefer is an intermodal container (shipping container) used in intermodal freight transport that is capable of refrigeration for the transportation of temperature-sensitive, perishable cargo such as fruits, vegetabl ...
s.
[Røe, Magne A]
Logistics of building large ships
''Det Norske Veritas
DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...
'', 23 September 2008; retrieved 31 August 2010.
Other companies calculate capacity according to the maximum number of containers that can be carried irrespective of weight, always greater than the number calculated by the Maersk method. As of 2012, the E class is still the largest by full-weight 14-tonne capacity. can carry 10,000 14 t containers, 16,020 if not fully loaded.
On 21 February 2011, Maersk ordered a family of ten even larger ships from
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...
, the , with a capacity of 18,000 containers. A further ten ships were ordered in June 2011. The first was delivered in 2013.
[Maersk orders up to 30 of biggest container ships on trade]
, businessweek.com, 21 February 2011; accessed 21 February 2011.
Engine and hull
She is powered by a
Wärtsilä-Sulzer 14RTFLEX96-C engine, the world's largest single
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
unit, weighing 2,300 tonnes and capable of when burning of
heavy fuel oil
Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminate ...
per hour.
At economical speed, fuel consumption is 0.260
bs/hp·hour (1,660 gal/hour).
[Emma Mærsk](_blank)
''Ship Technology''. Retrieved: 31 August 2010. She has features to lower environmental damage, including
exhaust heat recovery
Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to:
Law
* Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law
**Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law
** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in ...
and
cogeneration
Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time.
Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elect ...
.
[Waste Heat Recovery (WHR): Fuel savings with less emissions](_blank)
''Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technol ...
Corporation'', 2006. Accessed: 4 December 2010. Some of the exhaust gases are returned to the engine to improve economy and lower emissions,
[Holsting, Robert]
Emma Mærsk, information & data
''Robse''. Accessed: 26 February 2011. and some are passed through a steam generator which then powers a
Peter Brotherhood
Peter Brotherhood (1838–1902) was a British engineer. He invented the Brotherhood engine used for torpedoes as well as many other engineering products.
With his son he built a large engineering business in London bearing his name, Peter Brother ...
steam turbine and electrical generators. This creates an electrical output of 8.5 MW,
[Distinctive ships 2006](_blank)
''AllBusiness'', 1 December 2006. Retrieved: 31 August 2010. equivalent to about 12% of the main engine power output. Some of this steam is used directly as shipboard heat. Five diesel generators together produce 20.8 MW,
giving a total electric output of 29 MW.
Two 9 MW electric motors augment the power on the 150 meter main propeller
shaft,
the longest in the world.
Two bow and two stern thrusters provide port manoeuvrability, and two pairs of
stabilizer fins reduce rolling.
A special
silicone
A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...
-based paint, instead of
biocide
A biocide is defined in the European legislation as a chemical substance or microorganism intended to destroy, deter, render harmless, or exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a slig ...
s used by much of the industry, keeps
barnacles
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive ...
off of the hull.
This increases her efficiency by reducing drag while also protecting the
ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
from biocides that may leak. The paint is credited with lowering the water
drag enough to save 1,200 tonnes of fuel per year. The ship has a
bulbous bow
A bulbous bow is a protruding bulb at the bow (or front) of a ship just below the waterline. The bulb modifies the way the water flows around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency, and stability. Large ships ...
, a standard feature for cargo ships.
The turning diameter at is . The engine is near midship to make best use of the rigidity of the hull and to maximize capacity.
[ When the ship rolls 20 degrees, the bridge sways 35 metres.][Solmer, Henrik]
Q&A with Captain of Emma Mærsk
, dr.dk, 20 February 2007; retrieved 24 July 2010.
The ships anchors weigh 29 tons each and each chain-link weighs 200 Kg.
Sailing schedules
Her regular round trip is between northern Europe and the far east via the English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, the Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
and the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
, calling at Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, Xiamen
Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
(westbound), Yantian
Yantian District () is one of the nine districts of the city of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is adjacent to Shenzhen River and Hong Kong to the south, and is surrounded by Luohu, Longgang and Pingshan districts of Shenzhen.
Before 1960s, th ...
(westbound), Algeciras
Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...
(westbound), Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
, Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.
It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
, Algeciras (eastbound), Yantian (eastbound), Hong Kong (eastbound), and Ningbo.[Emma Maersk trip 1006 schedule](_blank)
''Cargo in China'', retrieved 31 August 2010.[Sailing schedules](_blank)
page 5 ''Maersk Line''. Retrieved: 31 August 2010.
, the schedule included Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, and Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
.Emma Mærsk schedules
''Mærsk'', 5 December 2011; accessed 6 December 2011.
References
External links
at official website for Emma Maersk ship.
World’s Largest Diesel Engine- Emma Maersk’s Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C 26 February 2019.
The World's Most Gargantuan Diesel Engine by Andrew Tarantola, 20 July 2011.
This is what 109,000 horsepower looks like – meet the biggest and most powerful engine in the worldThis jaw dropper is the Wärtsilä RT-flex96C, the world’s largest and most powerful diesel engine in the world today. by Tibi Puiu. 16 May 2019. zmescience.com
The Engines of the Largest Container Ships in the World, and Challenges their Manufacturers Face 28 May 2018.
Exclusive Photos: Inside the Engine Room Of Maersk Triple- E By MI News Network , In: Photo of the day , Updated on 1 January 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emma Maersk
Merchant ships of Denmark
Container ships
Ships of the Maersk Line
Ships built in Odense
2006 ships
Maritime incidents in 2006
Ship fires