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.
With a length of , when they were built they were the largest container ships in the world, but were subsequently surpassed by larger ones such as .
In February and June 2011, Maersk Line awarded Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering two US$1.9 billion contracts ($3.8bn total) to build twenty ships of this class.
The name "Triple E" is derived from the class's three design principles: "Economy of scale, Energy efficiency, and Environmental impact improvement".
The ships are long and wide. While only longer and wider than the , the Triple E ships are able to carry 2,500 more containers. With a beam of 59 metres, they are too wide to traverse the Panama Canal, but can easily transit the Suez Canal.
One of the class's main design features is its dual , eight-cylinder, ultra-long stroke two-stroke diesel engines, driving two propellers at a design speed of . This class is by design slower than its predecessors, using a strategy known as slow steaming expected to lower fuel consumption by 37% and carbon dioxide emissions per container by 50%. The Triple E design helped Maersk win a "Most Sustainable Ship Operator of the Year" award in July 2011.
Maersk uses these ships to service routes between Europe and Asia, projecting that Chinese exports will continue to grow. European-Asian trade represents the company's largest market; thus it already has 100 ships serving the route.
Orders and history In February 2011 Maersk announced orders for a new "Triple E" family of container ships with a capacity of 18,000 TEU, with an emphasis on lower fuel consumption. They were built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in South Korea; the initial order, for ten ships, was valued at US$1.9 billion (2 trillion Korean Won); Maersk had options to buy a further twenty ships. In June 2011 Maersk announced that 10 more ships had been ordered for $1.9bn, but an option for a third group of ten ships would not be exercised. Payment of the ship is "tail-heavy": 40% while the ship is being built, and the remaining 60% paid on delivery.Pay on delivery Dagbladet Børsen, 22 February 2011. Accessed: 14 August 2011. Deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2013. Maersk negotiated a two-year warranty, whereas the standard is one year.Bennett, Drake. "Manufacturing Holy Ship", Bloomberg Businessweek. 5 September 2013. Accessed: 22 September 2013.
Prior to 2010, many Maersk container ships were built at Maersk's Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark, but Asian builders had become more competitively priced. Maersk had approached several different builders in Asia, having ruled out European shipbuilders on grounds of cost, and Chinese on technological grounds.Maersk orders 10 green mega-boxships The Motorship, 21 February 2011. Accessed: 22 February 2011.New Mærsk Triple-E ships worlds largest and most efficient; waste heat recovery and ultra long stroke engines contribute to up to 50% reduction in CO2/container moved Dispatch Control, 21 February 2011. Accessed: 22 February 2011. DSME builds three Triple-Es at a time, and it takes little more than a year to produce a ship.
Investment in more efficient ships helped Maersk win the "Sustainable Ship Operator of the Year" award from Petromedia Group's on-line publication sustainableshipping.com in July 2011.
In 2015, Maersk ordered an additional series of eleven 20,568 TEU second-generation Triple E-class ships, due to be delivered from 2017 onwards. The first ship is the Madrid Maersk. She went on her maiden voyage to Antwerp.
Ships Maersk Triple E class No. Ship name Yard number IMO number Delivered Status Ref. 1 4250 9619907 2 July 2013 In service 2 Majestic Mærsk 4251 9619919 2 August 2013 In service 3 Mary Mærsk 4252 9619921 30 August 2013 In service 4 Marie Mærsk 4253 9619933 18 October 2013 In service 5 Madison Mærsk 4254 9619945 6 January 2014 In service 6 Magleby Mærsk 4255 9619957 10 February 2014 In service 7 Maribo Mærsk 4256 9619969 7 April 2014 In service 8 Marstal Mærsk 4257 9619971 20 May 2014 In service 9 Matz Mærsk 4258 9619983 10 June 2014 In service 10 Mayview Mærsk 4259 9619995 25 July 2014 In service 11 Merete Mærsk 4262 9632064 22 August 2014 In service 12 Mogens Mærsk 4263 9632090 17 September 2014 In service 13 Morten Mærsk 4264 9632105 10 November 2014 In service 14 Munkebo Mærsk 4265 9632117 18 December 2014 In service 15 Maren Mærsk 4266 9632129 29 December 2014 In service 16 Margrethe Mærsk 4267 9632131 13 April 2015 In service 17 Marchen Mærsk 4268 9632143 27 May 2015 In service 18 Mette Mærsk 4269 9632155 6 May 2015 In service 19 Marit Mærsk 4270 9632167 5 June 2015 In service 20 Mathilde Mærsk 4271 9632179 30 June 2015 In service Maersk Triple E class (2nd Generation) 21 Madrid Mærsk 4302 9778791 7 April 2017 In service 22 Munich Mærsk 4303 9778806 15 June 2017 In service 23 Moscow Mærsk 4304 9778818 14 July 2017 In service 24 Milan Mærsk 4305 9778820 13 September 2017 In service 25 Monaco Mærsk 4306 9778832 30 October 2017 In service 26 Marseille Mærsk 4307 9778844 4 January 2018 In service 27 Manchester Mærsk 4308 9780445 8 January 2018 In service 28 Murcia Mærsk 4309 9780457 28 February 2018 In service 29 Manila Mærsk 4310 9780469 29 March 2018 In service 30 Mumbai Mærsk 4311 9780471 3 May 2018 In service 31 Maastricht Mærsk 4312 9780483 10 January 2019 In service Source: Equasis,Equasis.org grosstonnagegrosstonnage.com
Design
Specifications Capacity: 18,270 TEU Length: 399.2 metres Draft: 14.5 metres Beam: 59 metres Height: 73 metres Optimum speed: Top speed: Deadweight: 165,000 tonnes In the first 10 vessels engines are twin MAN 8S80ME-C9.2 engines, 8-cylinders, 800 mm bore, 3450 mm stroke, rated at 29.7 MW @ 73 rpm each, with fuel consumption of 168 g/kWh ( per day)"World's Biggest Ship: The $185M Maersk Triple-E" (Video) Bloomberg Businessweek. 5 September 2013. Accessed: 22 September 2013. Propellers: Twin propellers, with 4 blades, 9.8 m in diameter
Propulsion Unlike conventional single-engined container ships, the new class of ships has a twin-skeg design: it has twin diesel engines, each driving a separate propeller. Usually, a single engine is more efficient, but using two propellers allows a better distribution of pressure, which increases the propeller efficiency more than the disadvantage of using two engines.Maersk megaship with two propellers (in Danish) Ing.dk, 21 February 2011. Accessed: 22 February 2011.
The engines have waste heat recovery (WHR) systems; these are also used in 20 other Mærsk vessels including the eight E-class ships. The name "Triple E class" refers to three design principles: "Economies of scale, energy efficiency, and environmental impact improvement".
The twin-skeg principle also means that the engines can be lower and further back, allowing more room for cargo. Maersk requires ultra-long stroke two-stroke engines running at 80 rpm (versus 90 rpm in the E class); but this requires more propeller area for the same effect, and such a combination is only possible with two propellers due to the shallow water depth of the desired route.
A slower speed of 19 knots is designed, compared to the 23–26 knots of similar ships. The top speed would be 25 knots, but steaming at 20 knots would reduce fuel consumption by 37%, and at 17.5 knots fuel consumption would be halved. These slower speeds would add 2–6 days to journey times.
The various environmental features are expected to cost $30 million per ship, of which the WHR is to cost $10 million. Carbon dioxide emissions, per container, are expected to be 50% lower than emissions by typical ships on the Asia-Europe route and 20% lower than Emma Maersk. These are the most efficient container ships per TEU in the world. A cradle-to-cradle design principle was used to improve scrapping when the ships end their life."Here it comes " page 18, Maersk Post June 2013. Accessed: 22 September 2013.
The Madrid Maersk and subsequent ships in the series use electric motor-generator sets to improve operation.
Dimensions and layout
The ships were the longest in the world.REVIEW OF MARITIME TRANSPORT 2011 p37, UNCTAD 2011. Accessed: 7 May 2012. They have since been surpassed by other container ships, like the , exactly long. The Triple E series and its competitors often leapfrog each other for capacity as the types are updated with new ships larger than their sisters. For a while, Madrid Maersk with 20,568 TEU had the world's largest capacity until superseded by the 21,413 TEU OOCL Hong Kong.
The hull is more 'boxy' with a U cross-section compared to the V-shape of Maersk's E class; this allows more containers to be stored at lower levels so, while the Triple E class is only wider and longer, it can carry 2,500 (16%) more containers. The Triple E class can carry 23 rows of containers compared to 22 of the E class, which makes better use of the reach of current terminal cranes.
The deckhouse is relatively further forward, whilst the engines are to the rear; similar to CMA CGM's of containerships, also built by Daewoo. The forward deckhouse allows containers to be stacked higher in front of the bridge, further increasing capacity while maintaining forward visibility sufficient to comply with SOLAS regulation V/22.
The Triple E-class vessels are operated by a crew of 13, while the even larger Globe class requires 31 on board.
When the class was ordered, no port in the Americas could handle ships of their size. However, the following suitable ports include Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Yantian, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, and Colombo in Asia, and Rotterdam, Gothenburg, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Southampton, London Gateway, Le Havre, Felixstowe, Gdańsk, Antwerp, and Algeciras in Europe. The ships will be too large for the New Panamax-sized locks on the Panama Canal,Frank Pope. "Bigger, cleaner, slower – the new giants of the seas" Mirror&Archive The Times, February 22, 2011. Accessed: 6 December 2013. and their main route is expected to be Asia-Europe (through the Suez Canal). The draft of the Triple E class is , less than the SuezMax requirement of at beam. Handling equipment at ports was the main constraint on size, rather than the dimensions of canals or straits. The container port handling speed can be 29 moves per hour in Tanger-Med,"Maersk’s Triple E Ship Calls at Morocco’s Tanger-Med Port" Journal of Commerce, 9 September 2013. Accessed: 22 September 2013. Archived on 29 October 2013. or 37 in Rotterdam (215 per ship)."Maasvlakte I retrofits cranes" APM Terminals Anchor and mooring winch systems are being supplied by TTS Marine.
Market Maersk Line planned to use the ships on routes between Europe and Asia. In 2008, there was a reduction in demand for container transport caused by economic recessions in many countries. This left shipping lines in financial difficulties in 2009, with surplus capacity in their ships. Some ships were laid up or scrapped. However, there was a sudden resurgence of demand for container transport in 2010; Maersk Line posted its largest ever profit, and orders for new ships increased, leading to fresh concerns about future overcapacity. The market was still characterized by overcapacity and decreasing prices for new ships in 2013. China Shipping Container Lines ordered five ships with a capacity of 18,400 TEU from Hyundai Heavy Industries,"UASC places US$1.4B boxship contract " World Cargo News, 30 August 2013. Accessed: 1 September 2013. topping the Triple E class, with delivery from late 2014."Vessel ordering mania – why? " Container Insight Weekly, 30 June 2013. Accessed: 1 September 2013. United Arab Shipping Company has ordered (also from Hyundai) five slightly larger ships and five ships larger than the Maersk E class. Several other larger ships have been ordered by the industry.