The World’s Biggest Cargo Container Ships
Here is a list of cargo container ships with a capacity larger than 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
Container ships are mainly built for larger sizes to take advantage of economies of scale and lower the expenses as part of intermodal freight transport.
However, container ships are also subject to specific limits in size. Mostly, these are the availability of adequately big primary engines and a good number of ports and terminals planned and prepared to handle ultra-large container ships.
Also, some of the world’s major canals, such as the Suez Canal and Singapore Strait, specify the largest sizes of a ship that can pass through them.
For example, in 2016, Prokopowicz and Berg-Andreassen described a container ship with a capability of 10,000 to 20,000 TEU as an Extremely Large Container Ship (VLCS) and one that managed more than 20,000 TEU as an Ultra Large Container Ship (ULCS).
The World’s Biggest Cargo Container Ships
Name | Length Overall (Meter) | Beam (Meter) | Max. TEU | GT | Operator |
Ever Ace | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,992 | 235,579 | Evergreen (Taiwan) |
Ever Act | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,992 | 235,579 | Evergreen (Taiwan) |
Ever Aim | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,992 | 235,579 | Evergreen (Taiwan) |
Ever Alp | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,992 | 235,579 | Evergreen (Taiwan) |
Ever Arm | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,992 | 235,579 | Evergreen (Taiwan) |
Ever Art | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,992 | 235,579 | Evergreen (Taiwan) |
HMM Algeciras | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Copenhagen | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Dublin | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Gdansk | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Hamburg | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23.964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Helsinki | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Le Havre | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,964 | 228,283 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Oslo | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,820 | 232,311 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Rotterdam | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,820 | 232,311 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Southampton | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,820 | 232,311 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM Stockholm | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,820 | 232,311 | HMM (South Korea) |
HMM St Petersburg | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,820 | 232,311 | HMM (South Korea) |
MSC Gülsün | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,756 | 232,618 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Samar | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,756 | 232,618 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Leni | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,756 | 232,618 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Mia | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,756 | 232,618 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Febe | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,756 | 232,618 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Ambra | 399.9 | 61.5 | 23,756 | 232,618 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Mina | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,741 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Isabella | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,741 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Arina | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,741 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Nela | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,741 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Sixin | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,741 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Apolline | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,786 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Amelia | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,786 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Diletta | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,786 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Michelle | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,786 | MSC (Switzerland) |
MSC Allegra | 399.9 | 61.0 | 23,656 | 228,786 | MSC (Switzerland) |
CMA CGM Jacques Saadé | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Champs Elysées | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Palais Royal | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Louvre | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Rivoli | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Montmartre | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Concorde | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Trocadero | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |
CMA CGM Sorbonne | 399.9 | 61.3 | 23,112 | 236,583 | CMA CGM (France) |