Today, about 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container ships, and the largest modern container ships can carry up to 24,000 TEU (e.g., Ever Ace).
They have 24 bays and carry between 18,000 and 21,000 TEUs or 9,000 to 10,500 forty-foot containers. The TEUs are a unit that indicates the number of containers the ships can carry.
Today's largest container ship can carry about 24,000 TEUs. The carrying capacity of today's largest container vessels is equivalent to no less than a 44 miles long freight train. A large container ship engine has about 1,250 times more power than a family car and is similar in size to a typical six-story building.
However, today, the largest freight liner can transport over 21,000 TEU units, and Orient Overseas Container Line Hong Kong – the company that currently owns the largest in the world – is looking to build even larger ones. A 20ft unit has dimensions of about 20ft x 8ft x 8ft, and its total capacity is roughly 1360ft³.
Logistics and shipping companies normally load up to 24000 kilograms (24 metric tons) of cargo in a TEU. An empty container of this size weighs 2280 kilograms (2.24 metric tons). Hence the total weight of a fully laden twenty-foot container will be 26280 kilograms (26.28 metric tons).
A forty-foot container is regarded as two twenty-foot containers or 2 TEUs (sometimes referred to as FEU, Forty Foot Equivalent Unit). To calculate how many TEU a container is, just divide the actual length in feet by twenty. For example, one forty-foot container is two TEUs.
The F-type containerships have a length of 334 meters, a width of 48.4 meters, and a scantling draft of 15.5 meters.
The latest ships hold over 20,000 shipping containers. These behemoths of the sea can reach nearly 400m long and 60m wide (1,312ft long and 197ft wide), almost the length of 4 football fields! For perspective, such a ship would tower over most skyscrapers at 40 stories high!
Vessel purchases
In March 2010, the average price for a geared 500-TEU container ship was $10 million, while gearless ships of 6,500 and 12,000 TEU averaged prices of $74 million and $105 million respectively.
The Triple E class is a family of very large container ships with a capacity of more than 18,000 TEUs, which are owned and operated by Maersk Line.
What is a TEU? A TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) is a measure of volume in units of twenty-foot long containers. For example, large container ships are able to transport more than 18,000 TEU (a few can even carry more than 21,000 TEU). One 20-foot container equals one TEU.
The early container ships were around 38 ft long with a capacity of 500 – 800 TEU (more on that later), today the smallest containers in use measure 45 ft in length.
How much does it cost to ship a 40ft container from China to USA, the average price to ship a 40ft container from China to USA is from $2150 to $4850. The shipping timeline to ship a 40 foot container from China to USA ranges depending on the route.
Each barge is 70 feet wide by 200 feet long: twice the width of a standard barge. Its inner corners are squared rather than rounded to better fit containers. Each barge can carry 72 40-foot containers or 144 20-foot containers.
The average number of containers lost for the last three years (2020-2022) now stands at 2,301 containers per year, a significant rise from the 779 lost on average each year during the previous three years (2017-2019).
A 20ft container can hold up to about 25,000kg and a 40ft container around 28,000kg. Cranes at some ports won't allow containers heavier than 14,000kg – 18,000kg.
Based on similar recent orders, 8,000-teu newbuild prices are in the region of $95m each.
Evergreen has ordered three more 24,000 teu ships at China's Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, after the Taiwanese liner operator announced its 2021 net profit had soared nine-fold, to $9.5bn. Each ship is priced between $160m and $190m, with delivery expected in 2025.
COSCO Shipping Holdings has placed an order for 12 methanol dual-fuel 24,000 TEU boxships for a value of almost $2.9 billion. The 12 containerships will go to Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) and COSCO Shipping Lines, 7 and 5 ships respectively, with each vessel costing $239.85 million.
Unloading cargo containers off a vessel and getting them accessible to shippers can take an average of one to three days under normal conditions.
Ship #1 MSC Irina
This is currently the largest container ship in the world, with a capacity of 24,346 TEU. Her maiden voyage was in April 2023 from Guangzhou Port in China.
What is a Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU)? A standard marine shipping container that measures 20 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8.6 feet tall, and can hold between 9 and 11 pallets in one tier, and up to 28 weight tons, subject to the ocean carrier's weight limits and applicable highway axle load limits.
Length Overall: 399.95 meters. Beam: 61.4 meters. Depth: 33.20 meters.
Brokers think the five LNG dual-fuel 15,000-teu vessels will cost Yang Ming at least $900m in total as shipyards are quoting over $180m each for the ship type.
Logistics and shipping companies normally load up to 24000 kilograms (24 metric tons) of cargo in a TEU. An empty container of this size weighs 2280 kilograms (2.24 metric tons).