Maersk Line, the world’s leading container shipping company, plans to deploy its Triple-E shipping service, having capacity to carry 18,000 containers at one go in the India and Sri Lanka cluster, from mid-July.
This service will optimise efficiency as the Triple-E ships will allow the company to transport 2,500 more containers, saving 20 per cent fuel and reducing carbon emissions by 20 per cent, it said.
Maersk is acquiring 20 Triple-E vessels, which are among the largest and most efficient vessels in the world.
The first one was delivered last month, and will be pressed into service soon.
The Triple-E is 400 metres long, 59 metres wide and 73 metres high.
While five Triple-E vessels will be delivered in 2013, eight will join Maersk’s fleet in 2014 and seven more in 2015.
The company is expecting higher berth productivity as Triple-E will only call on larger ports where it will be possible to use more cranes, thus ensuring relatively less downtime. “The world economy is slow, there is over-capacity in the shipping industry and this trend will continue in the near-term.
“We are ensuring that the capacity we have in our fleet doesn’t exceed the container demand. Our ambition with the Triple-E is not to increase our market share but to realise cost savings ,” Franck Dedenis, Managing Director Designate–Maersk Line (India and Sri Lanka), said.
“Just to give a perspective on the sheer enormity of the vessel and its capacity, let’s say, with 18,000 containers in a Triple-E vessel, Times Square in New York city would fill up. Containers would tower over billboards, lights and many buildings,” he added.
