Strolling the Bridge of the Ebba Maersk, Underway on a 397-Meter Container Ship [VIDEO]

– By Jonathan Wichmann

Making a 170,794 ton container ship behave like a trained poodle is what Hans Peter Hansen does. He’s a harbour pilot and takes over at the helm of some of our giant vessels when they enter or leave a port. In other words, whenever a precise knowledge of the local conditions is required.

His job is interesting. It fascinates people. And it also fascinates his 13-year-old grandson, so from time to time he either takes photos from his journeys or videotapes them for his grandson to see.

Strolling the bridge of Ebba Maersk

Recently, we came across one of his videos on YouTube. A 7 minute video from the Ebba Maersk, one of our 8 giant E-class vessels, where Hans Peter takes a stroll on the 60m wide bridge and explains what he’s seeing.

The video was recorded last summer, or in the afternoon of Sunday 8 July 2012, to be specific. At that point in time Ebba Maersk was on a level with Romsø, in The Great Belt in Denmark. The vessel had just passed under The Great Belt Bridge and was approximately 3 hours away from the Port of Aarhus.

During the 7:15 minute long recording the vessel sailed around 4.5 kilometers – or 2.4 nautical miles.

Almost like being there yourself

When we contacted Hans Peter he told us that the video wasn’t supposed to be publicly available – he simply forgot to make it ‘private’ on YouTube. Nevertheless, we were more than happy to share it, if we wanted to.

And share it, that was exactly what we wanted to do. Because it gives a great look inside what it’s like to sail one of our giants. When the weather’s nice, we should add.

So, without further ado, this is as close as you can get to being on the bridge of the 397m long Ebba Maersk – without actually being there.

PS: Remember to put on your headphones to feel the ambience of the great Ebba Maersk.

Jonathan Wichmann is Head of Social Media at Maersk Line