''MSC Zoe'' was one of the largest

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 intermoda ...

s in the world when built in 2015. It is the third of a series of ships built by MSC, after ''MSC Oscar'' and ''MSC Oliver''.

Name

''MSC Zoe'' takes her name from the four year old grand-daughter of Gianluigi Aponte, the

Mediterranean Shipping Company Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970, with headquarters in Switzerland since 1978. The privately held company is owned by the Aponte family. It has been the lar ...

(MSC) president and chief executive.

Construction

''MSC Zoe'' was built by

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 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

for $140m.

Ship's particulars

At the length of 395 metres (1295'), ''Zoe'' has a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of 16 meters (52'). She has a capacity of 19,224 TEU and a cargo capacity ( dwt) of 199,272 tonnes.

Propulsion

The vessel's main engine is a two-stroke MAN B&W 11S90ME-C diesel engine, which is a height of , a length of and a breadth of . The engine has a

maximum continuous rating In electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, the power rating of equipment is the highest power input allowed to flow through particular equipment. According to the particular discipline, the term ''power'' may refer to electrical or m ...

of at 82.2 rpm and a normal continuous rating of at 79.4 rpm.

Loss of containers at sea

On 1 January 2019 342 containers went overboard on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. 297 containers lost north of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

island

Ameland Ameland (; West Frisian: It Amelân) is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes. It is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Ter ...

, the remaining containers some hours later north of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

island Borkum. 19 of the containers and their contents – including

organic peroxides In organic chemistry, organic peroxides are organic compounds containing the peroxide functional group (). If the R′ is hydrogen, the compounds are called hydroperoxides, which are discussed in that article. The O−O bond of peroxides easily ...

, children's toys, shoes, bags, cushions, chairs, televisions, and plastic packaging – washed ashore on the Dutch islands of

Vlieland Vlieland (; fry, Flylân) is a municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland is the second most sparsely populated municipality in the Netherlands, after Schiermonnikoog. Vlieland is one of the West Frisia ...

, Terschelling,

and Schiermonnikoog and German island Borkum in the Wadden Sea, a protected UNESCO biosphere reserve. In 2020, the

Dutch Safety Board The Dutch Safety Board (DSB; nl, Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid, OVV, literally "Investigation Council for Safety") is an organisation based in The Hague, Netherlands.BSU and ''Panama Maritime Authority'' published a joint report on their investigation of the incident. It notes that the loss of containers occurred over several hours, due to strong rolling and the associated accelerations caused by the prevalent sea conditions at the time. Although it finds that the loading and securing of the cargo was in accordance with current regulations, it recommends to revise the regulations with special consideration of very large container ships.

Sisterships

*''

MSC Oscar ''MSC Oscar'', and sister ships ''MSC Zoe'' and ''MSC Oliver'', are large container ships. Christened on 8 January 2015, ''MSC Oscar'' was recognised as the largest container ship in the world; until then ''CSCL Globe'', inaugurated in November 2 ...

'' *''

MSC Oliver ''MSC Oliver'' is one of the largest container vessels (as of May 2015) in the world, together with her sister ships '' MSC Oscar'', ''MSC Zoe'', ''MSC Maya'' and ''MSC Sveva''. The vessel was delivered in March 2015 by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Ma ...

'' *''

MSC Maya ''MSC Maya'' is one of the world's List of largest container ships, largest container ships, built in 2015. The cargo ship has capacity for 19,224 TEU. Design ''MSC Maya'' was built in 2015 in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering by yard nu ...

'' *''MSC Sveva''

References

{{2019 shipwrecks 2015 ships Container ships Ships built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Maritime incidents in 2019