Felixstowe welcomes the Emma Maersk

It has a length of over 397 m, 31 m more than the next largest ships, the Maersk G classes, and a width of 57 m, 15 m wider than any other. It was built at the Odense Steel Ship Yard in Denmark, and has a gross tonnage of 156,907 dwt and a maximum draught of 16.5 m.

The ship has attracted a great deal of press attention and its fair share of superlatives. It is longer than the height of both the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, and is four times the length of a normal football field. If all the containers onboard were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch for 42 miles.

The vessel arrived at Felixstowe during the peak pre-Christmas season, carying huge volumes of consumer goods from China. “Vessels of this scale have been predicted for some years now, and we are finally starting to see them materialise. This proves that containerised trade is growing at an amazing pace, and underlines the need for new facilities, such as Felixstowe South and Bathside Bay, to meet this growing demand,” said Chris Lewis, CEO of Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd, which owns the Port of Felixstowe.