Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2013)

38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? OCTOBER 2013 Then there are the much vaunted per slot costs, which on an 18,000 TEU ship are $10.96 per TEU per day at sea, almost the same cost as a vessel half its size. The main drivers behind building the Triple-E in the Þ rst place were to achieve greater container capacity and better fuel efÞ ciency. Its ?Triple-E? moniker refers to economy of scale, en-ergy ef Þ ciency and environmental im- provements made possible through ad-vances in ship design and technology. At 400 m, the ships are just four m longer than E-class vessels (Emma Maersk) yet can carry 2,500 more con-tainers. An expanded inside cavity in a wider hull with a more bulbous bow al-lows the additional 16% of boxes to be piled in without signiÞ cantly increasing the draft. Moving the navigation bridge and accommodation Þ ve bays forward and the engine room and chimney six rows back created more space.?There is incremental change going on all the time during the building of the Triple-Es,? said Skov. Marine Design Annual ? The World?s Largest?In the volatile global economy and shipping environment, it is very important that we  nd a balanced way of introducing new and ef cient tonnage without increasing the total capacity of the market un-necessarily. We took out the AE9 string on the Asia-Europe, and even with the  ve Triple Es by the end of the year the total capacity will not have grown. It is a responsible way of introduc- ing new capacity while not making a dif cult situation in the trade even worse.?David Skov, Head of South China for Maersk Line(Images courtesy Maersk) MR #10 (34-41).indd 38MR #10 (34-41).indd 3810/2/2013 4:20:59 PM10/2/2013 4:20:59 PM