''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 A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S. 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 Ship class, 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 o ...

s were among the longest container ships. Officially, she is able to carry around or , depending on definition. In May 2010, her sister ship set a record of 15,011 TEU in

Tanger-Med Tanger Med (in Arabic: طنجة المتوسط ) is a Moroccan industrial port complex, located 45 km northeast of Tangier and opposite Tarifa, Spain (15 km north) on the Strait of Gibraltar, with handling capacities of 9 million conta ...

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

History

''Emma Mærsk'' was built at the

Odense Steel Shipyard Odense Steel Shipyard () was a Danish shipyard company located in Odense. It was best known for building container ships for its parent group, Maersk, A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, including the Mærsk E-class container ship, Mærsk E class in ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. In June 2006, during construction,

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...

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 (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

, 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 He ...

's late wife, Emma. On 16 August 2006, five tugboats dragged ''Emma Mærsk'' 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, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, calling at

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

Algeciras Algeciras () is a city and a municipalities in Spain, 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 G ...

, the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, and arrived in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

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 District, Shenzhen, Longgang and Pingshan District, Shen ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, then

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, arriving at

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

on 10 October 2006, and returning via Shenzhen,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, Tanjung Pelepas, the Suez Canal,

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

, 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'', during a voyage between Malaysia and Spain. In 2011, the National Bank of Denmark issued a 20 DKK

commemorative coin A commemorative coin is a coin issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Some coins of this category serve as collector's items only, while most commemora ...

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. O ...

thruster and took on so much water in the Suez Canal that she became unmaneuverable.

Tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...

, anchors and the wind took her to

Port Said Port Said ( , , ) is a port city that lies in the northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, straddling the west bank of the northern mouth of the Suez Canal. The city is the capital city, capital of the Port S ...

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 ( ; ; , 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 province. The ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, 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$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

44.5 million) 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 a general 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 tha ...

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
''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, vegetab ...

s.Røe, Magne A
Logistics of building large ships
''

Det Norske Veritas Det Norske Veritas (DNV), formerly DNV GL, is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. DNV provides services for several industries, including maritime, oil and gas, renewable energy, e ...

'', 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 ( ; ; ; ; 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 conglomerate) and aut ...

, 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 unit, weighing 2,300 tonnes and capable of when burning of heavy fuel oil per hour. At economical speed, fuel consumption is 0.260 bs/hp·hour (6,284 L/hour).Emma Mærsk
''Ship Technology''. Retrieved: 31 August 2010. She has features to lower environmental damage, including exhaust heat recovery 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 elec ...

.Waste Heat Recovery (WHR): Fuel savings with less emissions
''

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

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 an English 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 Broth ...

steam turbine and electrical generators. This creates an electrical output of 8.5 MW,Distinctive ships 2006
''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 In Organosilicon chemistry, organosilicon and polymer chemistry, a silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer composed of repeating units of siloxane (, where R = Organyl group, organic group). They are typically colorless oils or elastomer, rubber ...

-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 sli ...

s used by much of the industry, keeps

barnacles Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebrates; many species live in shallow and tidal water ...

off the hull. This increases her efficiency by reducing drag while also protecting the

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

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 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 ship's 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, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

, the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

and the

, calling at

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...

(westbound),

, Algeciras (eastbound), Yantian (eastbound), Hong Kong (eastbound), and Ningbo.Emma Maersk trip 1006 schedule
''Cargo in China'', retrieved 31 August 2010.Sailing schedules
page 5 ''Maersk Line''. Retrieved: 31 August 2010. , the schedule included

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

, and

.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 world
This 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