When Bigger Ships Can't Hold on to Records
The credit of being CSCL Globe for being the world's biggest container ship remained for a little over a month until the arrival of the MSC Oscar.
MSC Oscar, sailed from a shipyard near Busan, South Korea, became the world's largest container ship last month, just weeks after the previous record holder, CSCL Globe, was launched.
The MSC Oscar, operated by Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co., is slightly shorter but is able to carry 124 more containers, allowing it to gain the title of the world's largest container ship. The 400-metre CSCL Globe, owned by China Shipping Container Lines, longer than four soccer pitches, can carry 19,100 standard containers.
But the MSC Oscar's time in the limelight will also be limited.
MSC may lose its crown in April with delivery of United Arab Shipping Co (UASC)'s Barzan. Although that vessel is listed as only 18,800 teu, it is likely to have its nominal capacity adjusted upwards prior to delivery.
Meanwhile, several liner operators are negotiating orders for even larger vessels of 20,000 teu and above.
Industry watchers expect ships as large as 22,000 TEU to come into service by 2018, and that 24,000-TEU vessels are on the drawing board.
Such rapid record-setting has never been seen before in container shipping, which has been instrumental in helping global trade take off.
