MAERSK SEALAND: NEW SHIP NOT LARGER THAN OTHERS

MAERSK SEALAND: NEW SHIP NOT LARGER THAN OTHERS

   Maersk Sealand said that its new large containership, the “Charlotte M'rsk,” is not any larger than the other ships in its S class series.

   “It’s the same as the previous S-class,” said Jette Clausen, spokesman for the Danish group A.P. Moller.

   The new vessel was named last week, amid expectations in the industry that it would be the world’s first 10,000-TEU containership. Maersk Sealand’s previous S-class post-Panamax ships have a declared capacity of 6,600 TEUs, although their capacity    is rated at about 7,400 TEUs by industry databases.

   The belief that the new Maersk Sealand ship has a larger capacity than that stated by A.P. Moller was based partly on the fact that the engine of the new “Charlotte M'rsk,” with 85,660 BHP of power, is different from the 74,600 BHP engines of the previous S-class ships.

   “That’s probably the case,” said Rogan McLellan, director of liner research at Clarkson, the U.K. shipbroker. McLellan cautioned that the industry’s interest in the actual size of the ships is still very speculative.

   However, A.P. Moller said that the new ship has the same 347-meter (1,138-foot) length as the previous vessels in the series, and the same width of about 43 meters (140 feet).