MV Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Arrives in the Port of Gdansk, Aerial View

An aerial view of the MV Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, the world’s biggest container ship, as it arrives at the harbour of Gdansk August 21, 2013. The 55,000 tonne ship, named after the son of the founder of the Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk, has a length of 400 metres (1,312 feet) and cost $185 million. Picture taken August 21, 2013. REUTERS/Renata Dabrowska/

A close-up of the bow of the ship shows a particular feature of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller’s design. The naval architects extended the beam of the vessel forward in order to carry more containers. In previous ships, such as the Emma Maersk, and particularly older Panamax-sized containerships, the bow has a much finer entry.

The tradeoff is that she’s isn’t well-suited for high speed sailing, but then again, container ships no longer sail at the speeds they used to due to the price of fuel and the current state of overcapacity.

Maersk also shared with us today a video of the MV Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller sailing underneath Denmark’s Great Belt Bridge
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/72958485[/vimeo]

Updated: August 8, 2014 (Originally published August 23, 2013)

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