Container ship Ever Ace: when a caravan of 230 camels rests

This handsome man of gigantic proportions is not even three years old. It can be found in the seas and oceans on the way from Yantian to Europe in 240 seaports belonging to 80 states. Its name is Ever Ace, its status is the world's largest mega-container ship. It is owned by the Taiwanese Evergreen Marine Corporation, which controls one-fifth of the world's sea freight and owns the most powerful container ships.


In 2019, Evergreen ordered a fleet of ships breaking the 2017 record for an incredible capacity of over 20 TEU. The record holder was the vessel HMM ALGESIRAS - 23 thousand TEU. Six ships of even larger container capacity for Taiwan undertook to be built in South Korea, seven at Chinese shipyards. Ever Ace is the first of a series.

History of Ever Ace

Few people think that the benefits that we use in everyday life are not produced on a neighboring street, not in our native state, moreover, not even on our continent. The mass of goods is moved by cars, rail, air. And sea transportation accounts for 12 billion tons of cargo per year.


Since ancient times, bales, bags, boxes, barrels were transported in ship holds. Historically, the transportation system was formed and developed: the delivery of goods, loaders, devices for loading, accounting and other elements of the bustling port life. There was always the risk of theft, damage, loss of luggage. So it was until 1956, when the American entrepreneur Malcom McLean came up with a new way to move goods by sea.


Having sold all his property, as contemporaries testify, Sir M. McLean bought a decommissioned tanker and converted it to transport metal boxes of the same size. This is how the first container ship appeared, which could take on board 58 sealed boxes. The dimensions of the receptacles were 20 feet (approximately 6 m). The standard unit for measuring the capacity of boxes was called TEU. Already the first voyage of the converted New York-Houston tanker showed that the cost of transporting 1 ton of cargo fell 37 times. Revolution!

Industry development

The idea was picked up: shipyards began to fill up with orders for the construction of specially equipped ships. True, it immediately became clear that 20-foot boxes are irrational, it is better to double their capacity. The International Committee for Standardization joined in and approved the 40-foot container size for shipping. But the TEU capacity unit was left equivalent to a 20-foot box.


The notion of M. McLean marked the beginning of the era of globalization of maritime transport. Work began to boil: railway and automobile platforms, port cranes were adjusted to the new standard. The race "who will build a ship with a larger container capacity" has begun. Over the 65-year period, the ships have become larger and larger: from 58 pcs. Malcolm McLean went to hundreds and thousands of boxes. Since the beginning of our century, the capacity of container ships has tripled. The palm quickly passed from one carrier to another, until he appeared - Ever Ace.

Overview of container ship Ever Ace

In 2019, South Korean manufacturer Samsung Heavy Industries received an order from the Taiwanese corporation Evergreen to build the industry's largest ship. The owner needed a capacity of more than 20 thousand TEU, because before that the company's ships of 14 thousand plowed the sea. After 2 years, the ship left the stocks. It took so much sheet metal to build that it could cover 20 football fields.


The word "EVERGREEN" flaunts on board the new Ever Ace container ship. The customer wished, in continuation of the tradition, to highlight his flotilla in green. If the predecessor HMM ALGECIRAS, as noted, contained 23 thousand TEU, then our hero can take on board 964 more boxes.

The Ever Ace container ship received the titles of "largest", "mega" and others deservedly, but not for overall dimensions, which are limited by some standards in the industry, but for capacity. The indicator was increased by expanding the bow of the ship: this made it possible to place additional boxes of goods.


Why not a record? It seems that there is nowhere to expand further, there is no place for at least one more container. But who knows? Rumor has it that the EVERGREEN Corporation has set its sights on 25 TEU.

The technical component of the mega-container ship

The dimensions and technical parameters of this miracle of engineering Ever Ace are truly impressive:

✅ Length - 399,9 m
✅ Width - 61,5 m
✅ Draft - 16,5 m
✅ Displacement - 235 thousand tons
✅ Container capacity - 23 992 TEU

If we have dealt with the concept of TEU (the equivalent of a 20-foot container), then it is worth remembering the deadweight. This is the difference between the full and empty displacement: this includes the mass of the transported cargo, fuel, oils, water and food, crew members with their belongings. For the ship Ever Ace, the deadweight is 225 thousand tons.


This gigantic structure is propelled at a considerable speed of 22,6 knots (approximately 42 km / h) by a low-speed Win GD 11X92-B power plant. A two-stroke unit the size of a 3-story mansion weighs more than 2 thousand tons, generating about 60 thousand kW of energy. The motor runs on low sulfur fuel oil. Emissions of harmful substances into the environment are extremely low.

ship tour

Getting around this monumental structure is not easy: the walk will take more than one hour. But the pleasure is worth it. The scale and thoughtful organization of the internal space are striking. There is no need to talk about the pedantry and fanaticism of sailors regarding cleanliness: a speck of dirt is not to be found. But the silence and the absence of people are surprising.


The ship is served by a crew of 25 people, which is already confusing: how can you manage this economy without fuss and haste by the forces of several people? The ship has excellent living conditions for sailors: modern comfortable cabins, recreation areas with a reading room and rooms for sports. In the galley, ship cooks of the highest qualification prepare food. And everywhere there are living plants, because of which the feeling that you are on land, and not in the boundless ocean, does not let go.


The inhabitant's bridge is associated with a huge steering wheel, as in films about pirates. However, there is no wheel: a spacious room is crammed with control electronics. Well, yes, there is a steering wheel - a small one.

Way-roads Ever Ace

The ultra-large container ship runs regularly from China to the Netherlands. The North China Consortium of Sea Container Shipping Ocean Alliance uses the sea route with calls to the necessary ports. The path of the ships was so conditionally called - "Ocean Alliances".

The giant Ever Ace is successfully cruising the southern tip of Eurasia, and in August 2021 it passed the Suez Canal for the first time. The event was a landmark, a lot of newspaper pages were devoted to it. And all because of EVER GIVEN, a container ship that got stuck in the “bottleneck” of the canal between the Mediterranean and Red Seas a few months earlier.


Then the movement of 400 ships was paralyzed for six days, food prices jumped in some countries, and the shares of large shipping companies collapsed. Ever Ace did not create such chaos.

If all the goods that the container ship is carrying are sent overland and put on the humpbacked backs of the "ships of the desert", then the caravan will be 230 camels. Well, plus or minus 10 thousand - the figures are averaged. Let's wish Ever Ace seven feet under the keel!