Shipping Trend***

One of the most significant trends affecting the container shipping industry has been the ongoing increase in the size of vessels employed. Over the last fifteen years or so the capacity of the largest container vessel in service has virtually doubled from around 4,500 teu to 8,400 teu. Recently 9,600 teu vessels have been ordered and the ordering of even larger vessels of up to 12,000 teu (i.e. Suez-max) is anticipated. Naval architects suggest it may eventually be feasible to construct and operate ships of 18,000 teu (Malacca-max), although as yet there are no signs of the industry moving this far ahead.
Table Below presents design parameters of the current and future anticipated largest container ships. Current largest ships of 8,400 teu have a length of 348m, beam of 42.8m and draught of 14.0m. Adding 10% for underkeel clearance, this implies a minimum channel depth of at least 15.4m is required in port and alongside the berth. The squat phenomenon is also important in that such vessels may in fact reach 16.0m when sailing in shallow water, such as port channels.
Moving up to a 12,000 teu ship size (expected before 2010), channel/berth draught requirements would increase to 18.74m. New transhipment hubs such as Salalah and Tanjung Pelepas are currently planning to increase channel depth to 18m. Beyond 2010, if the Malaccamax is ever built and 18,000 teu ships enter service, required channel/berth depth would increase to 23.1m.
The introduction of bigger ships places additional burdens on ports to increase the depth of water in entrance channels and alongside berths far above what is currently offered. This implies that much greater investment is necessary in port infrastructure. Channel width must also be increased to take account of the wider ship beam, plus turning circles have to be enlarged to take account of greater vessel length. Modifications necessary on the shoreside include bigger cranes with longer outreach, lift height, and loading capacity. Current ‘super’ post-Panamax cranes can weigh over 1,300 tonnes with greater wheel loads necessitating far stronger quay structures.
China is preparing in big way and Ningbo Port and Qingdao port are being developed. By the end of the 10th Five-year Plan period, cargo throughput of the Port of Ningbo will reach 150 million tons and container throughput will break through 3 million TEU. The port has taken trial voyage of 6th generation container ships. The port can take 200000 to 300000 DWT VLCC and ULCC vessels! The ship size categories are shown below.