Dockwise Yacht Transport has been in the boat delivery business for 21 years. Their semi-submersible vessels operate world wide.

Launched in April of 2008, the China Built heavy lift ship Yacht Express is the world’s largest float-on float-off yacht carrier (Video). This amazing ship has opened a regular round-trip service between Florida and the Mediterranean. 18 yachts worth in total some £78 million are being carried aboard the 209m long vessel on its inaugural voyage. Here is information from the owners: [Continue Reading →]

 

 Dockwise Yacht Express: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Emma Maersk is a true Modern Marvel. The world largest container ship, longest ship currently in service and is propelled by the largest diesel engine ever manufactured. By mid-year 2006 the construction project was going well when on June 9th the accommodation block was devastated by fire. [Continue Reading →]

 

 Emma Maersk Shipyard Fire - Largest Containership in the world [1:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Celebrity Cruises maiden ship in its new Solstice Class departed Meyer Werft shipyard yesterday in Papenburg, Germany.  The Celebrity Solstice, at length of just over 1,000 ft., is the largest cruise ship by Celebrity Cruises and from the looks of it, just getting it out of port was no easy task.

The Celebrity Solstice is the first of five ships in Celebrity Cruises’ Solstice Class: a class of ships that will offer “floating worlds of aesthetic and experiential perfection, where every detail is attended to and every guest is pampered,” according to Celebrity Cruises.

Celebrity Solstice will offer a range of amenities, never before seen on any other cruise ships.  MarketWatch.com provides us with this list: [Continue Reading →]

Never Sea Land brings us the largest engine ever built:

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan’s Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.

It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.

The cylinder bore is just under 38″ and the stroke is just over 98″.

The engine weighs in at 2,300 tons and is capable of delivering 109,000 horsepower.

The largest piston in the world!

More Enormous Piston Rods.

“DU-Sulzer 12RT A96C” translated to “One large MFD”

How it works. [Continue Reading →]

Pilots boarding the M/V Berge Stahl, the world’s largest bulk carrier.

Here’s your opportunity to name a ship! This, however, isn’t just a random ship, Royal Caribbean is asking YOU to name the world’s largest cruise ship. USA Today tells us;

Are you ready to win a cruise? Launching in 2009 and 2010, respectively, the much-anticipated, 5,400-passenger vessels will be the largest in the world — 40% larger than today’s biggest cruise ships — and cost a record $1.2 billion a piece. So the chance to name them is quite an honor.

If your suggestions are picked, you’ll win a seven-day cruise on one of the new ships, among other prizes. If you’re one of five finalists, you’ll win a two-night inaugural cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, debuting in May.

Of course, you have to come up with a winner of a name — two, in fact, that are related to each other. And that’s harder than it looks. Just ask Royal Caribbean’s president and CEO, Adam Goldstein.

“Naming ships is one of the most challenging aspects of the business,” Goldstein told us this week. “I’ve seen times when (the process of) naming a ship took longer than ordering it.”

Click HERE for our story on this amazing vessel then head over to USA Todays to enter the contest: Name That Ship.

Genesis Facts:

• The building of the biggest floating resorts in the world is a two-billion-euro assignment
• The Genesis is almost a full quartermile long
• The construction is a huge 3-dimensional puzzle
• 30.000 drawings are needed in designing this ship
• The yard is supported by a vast network of professional suppliers

Source: Aker Yards

Photo by AurelioZen

NewYorkology tells us of the first / last ever meeting of its three grand ships;

Cunard’s one-time-only royal rendezvous of its three queens — the QE2, QM2 and recently christened Queen Victoria — will be celebrated at 7 p.m. on January 13 with a harbor fireworks show as the three grand cruise liners meet near the Statue of Liberty.

The QE2 and Queen Victoria will arrive in tandem (likely pre-sunrise) from Southampton, England. During the day, the QE2 will be docked at Manhattan’s Pier 92 and the Queen Victoria nearby at Pier 88. The Queen Mary 2 will arrive separately (also early morning,) and dock in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

All three have bridge cams (Queen Victoria, QM2 and QE2) and Cruise Critic Ben Lyons is blogging the voyage.

UPDATE:

Henny Ray Abrams/Associated Press

The New York Times has reported on the festivities. They write:

In the annals of maritime history, the Queens’ sailing was momentous. It was the first time in the 168-year history of the Cunard Line, the owner of the liners, that it had three ships named after British queens in the same port at the same time. The company arranged the ships’ schedules so that they departed from New York City ports simultaneously.

The Queens’ meeting, witnessed by thousands on shore and on board, will also be their last, company officials said.

“They are not programmed to meet in any other port,” Cunard’s president, Carol Marlow, said during an afternoon news conference at Pier 88 in Manhattan, with the docked Queen Victoria visible in background. “This is a spine-tingling time.”

The Queen Elizabeth 2, Cunard’s longest-serving ship, left Manhattan for its 26th and final around-the-world journey — a farewell tour that will usher in its retirement in November, when the liner will become a floating hotel in Dubai. The Queen Victoria, which came into service last month, embarked on its maiden world cruise. And the Queen Mary 2, the largest trans-Atlantic liner ever built, weighing about 151,400 gross tons, sailed to the Caribbean from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Cunard Cruiser tells us of the recent keel laying ceremony for what will be the world’s largest cruise ship. They write;

Project Genesis, the largest cruise ship to ever make it from drawing board to production made a significant step in its journey towards the sea today (11th December) at Aker Yards ship yard in Turku, Finland.

At the milestone keel-laying ceremony, the first blocks constructing the 220,000 GRT Project Genesis were laid into the bottom of the dry dock. From here the ship will begin to take its form for the first time.
At 40% larger than any other cruise ship in the world, Project Genesis – the working title applied by cruise line Royal Caribbean International, the company behind its development – is scheduled to enter service in Autumn 2009. Project Genesis will be homeported year-round from Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Project Genesis is 1,180 feet long, 154 feet wide, and 240 feet high and will accommodate over 5,400 guests. The ship will take 5,800 man-years to complete and is expected to float on water for the first time in Winter 2008 as it nears the finishing stages. At a cost of US$230,000 per berth, Project Genesis is the most expensive cruise ship ever to be ordered. Continue Reading…

We’ll be sure to keep an eye on the official Genesis Project page for you but in the meantime… initial shipyard photos can be found HERE.

Photo slideshow of the world’s largest ship ever built the (now) FSO Knock Nevis.

A graphical Comparison: [Continue Reading →]

The picture above, by Ship Spotter Frederik, is of the Elly Maersk. Along with her sister ships the Emma, Evelyn, Eleonora, Estelle and Ebba Maersk she is the largest Container Ship in the world and the last of these giants scheduled to be built. She is also equipped with the largest engine in the world. Marine Link tells us:

On August 25, 2007 Odense Steel Shipyard presented its latest newbuilding, an 11,000 TEU container vessel, for the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group.

Like her five predecessors, Elly Maersk will be part of the series of the world’s largest container vessels, and she will like her sister vessels set new standards for safety and environment. Environmentally friendly silicone paint covers the hull of the vessel below the waterline – reducing water resistance and cutting the vessel’s fuel consumption by 1,200 tons per year.

With its 14-cylinder Wärtsilä RT-flex diesel engine which develops 110,000 bhp, Elly Maersk will enter Maersk Line’s worldwide service after delivery. Read More…

We have mixed emotions regarding ships of this size but, like the rest of the world, are impressed and amazed by her sheer size.

Related links:

• Video of her Maiden Voyage
• Track the Elly Maersk
• More Photos
• Fire on the Emma Maersk
• Emma Maersk photos video