MSC Containership to Edge Out CSCL Globe as World’s Biggest Boxship

MSC Oscar launch at DSME. Image courtesy MSC

The battle over the title of world’s biggest boxship continues with Mediterranean Shipping Company announcing the upcoming delivery of the MSC Oscar, a 19,224 TEU capacity containership.

MSC Oscar has been under construction at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering shipyard in South Korea and plans call for the ship to be put into service next month.

With a nominal carrying capacity of 19,224 TEU, the containership will narrowly beat out China Shipping Container Lines’ CSCL Globe, which can carry 19,000 TEU and is currently embarked on its maiden voyage from China to Europe. Despite its greater carrying capacity, MSC Oscar will measure just 395.4 meters long, making it shorter than the 400 meter long CSCL Globe and also the 400 meter Maersk Triple-E’s, which can carry about 18,000 TEU. MSC Oscar will however be slightly wider, with a beam measuring 59 meters compared to the 58.6 meter beam of the CSCL Globe. Triple-E’s, on the other hand, also have a beam of 59 meters, leaving many wondering where exactly they are finding the room to put the extra boxes without increasing the dimensions of these vessels.

MSC says that the DNV GL-classed MSC Oscar will be registered in Panama and is expected to be inaugurated during the first week of January 2015 before joining the Albatross service later in the month. A second vessel of the same size is due in April 2015.

At this rate, we’re going to see 20,000+ TEU containerships before we know it.

A un-embeddable video of the MSC Oscar under construction at DSME can be found HERE.

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