Container ships get bigger

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. has broken its own record for producing the world’s biggest container ship.
Samsung handed over two completed 9200 TEU level ships yesterday to its client, Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s second-largest container ship company. A TEU refers to a space big enough to fit one 20-foot container.
At 46 meters (151 feet) wide and 337 meters long, the new ships can fit 1.2 million 29-inch color TVs, or 50 million cell phones. The two identical ships, named MSC Pamela and Susanna, will run between Europe and Asia.
Samsung Heavy Industries now dominates global production of super-size container ships, receiving 25 out of the 33 orders worldwide for ships larger than 9000 TEU. “We completed the technical development of 12,000 TEU level ships last year,” said Kim Jing-wan, Samsung Heavy president. “From now on, we will focus on ships over 10,000 TEU.”

by Kim Pil-kyu