Caterpillar Marine - Marine Engines Caterpillar

which frequently corresponded to over
15% of deadweight, were absolutely
vital to achieve the necessary stability,
but were otherwise useless „cargo“.
This inconvenience could generally be
avoided by building wider ships,
although these could no longer
pass through the Panama
Canal. And the industry was still
rather reluctant about deciding
on these at that time. Germanischer
Lloyd later developed a
method for reducing the ballast
water volume, making it possible
to carry up to 200 TEU more
on board.
Fast growth in ship
capacities
Following the commissioning
of the first containerships
that were too large to pass
the Panama Canal, the Post-
Panamax vessels as we have
already mentioned, after some
initial hesitation the dam was
quickly broken. Although as
late as 1992 the trade journal
„Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung“
commented rather sceptically
that „The 6,000 TEU ship is no
Utopia“, a first feasibility study
for the construction of 8,000
TEU vessels was drawn up in
the same year. It initially met a
very cool reception, but only a
little later, in 2003, the breakthrough
for this size class, today
regarded as standard in the
East-West trades, was achieved.
Over 80 newbuildings of this
size were on the orderbooks of
South Korean shipyards at the
end of 2003. At the same time, a series
of 9,500 TEU vessels had been ordered.
And of the 1,124 containerships with
a total capacity of 4.1m TEU ordered
globally during 2005, 2.2m TEU (about
55%) was accounted for by vessels with
a capacity of 5,000 TEU upwards. The
13,000 TEU vessel is already now being
discussed. A first series is being built
at Odense Shipyard, which belongs to
Maersk Group. However, this yard is
always very discreet when it comes to
announcing technical details. It is certain
that the technical aspects of the
13,000 TEU giant have meanwhile been
settled. Germanischer Lloyd has presented
a relevant design with the South
26
Korean Hyundai shipyard. In view of
the previous development, it will probably
be only a matter of time before
the first orders for it are placed and
outside Europe. It remains to be seen
There have so far been no limits to the growth in the
size of containerships.
whether there will then be a Malaccamax
ship with 18,000 TEU capacity,
just able to pass through the Strait
of Malacca. The experts are already
discussing the feasibility of such
a vessel.
The limits to growth for the present
mega-carriers are set, as is continually
emphasised by shipbuilders, less by
the design of the ships themselves –
„technically everything is doable“ – but
rather by external factors. These are
first and foremost the water depths in
port entrances and in the ports themselves,
the suprastructure in the form
of the transhipment facilities, the logistics
requirements, particularly with
respect to the organisation of feeder
services, and the increasing operating
and also environmental risks in
the event that such huge vessels ever
become incapable of manoeuvring or
suffer an accident.
The maximum available
size of the propulsion plants
also leads to certain problems.
There are already some designs
assuming a twin-engine propulsion
system. The GL/Hyundai
project also envisages such a
plant, putting the priority on
the safety aspect. However, the
shipping lines still seem to be
sceptical about this concept, as
they are unwilling to accept the
additional outlay for such solutions.
The single-engine ship,
and the single-engine mega
ship, will thus in all probability
remain the norm, at least
for the time being. However,
this requires extremely reliable
engines with outputs of up
to 100,000 kW or over. So far
engine makers have managed
to meet the requirements, and
there should be little doubt that
they will also offer the satisfactory
solutions in future.
In conclusion, it is fair to say
that no sector is as closely connected
with the deregulation
and globalisation of the economy
as container shipping. Since
its beginnings in the mid-1960s,
it has had a crucial impact on
world trade. Container shipping
has made a very significant
contribution to the development
of the global economy,
and it is sometimes even compared
to microchips, as recently noted
by the former Germanischer Lloyd
executive board member Dr. Hanns
Payer.
The efficiency and reliability of liner
shipping have improved by leaps and
bounds with the growth in ship sizes
and capacities. It may be assumed that
further progress will be made with the
design of containerships in future and
that engineers will be able to meet the
market demand for even larger units.
Containerships have always been developed
to the limit of what is regarded
as technically possible. Nothing indicates
that anything will change in this
respect.