Thread by @mercoglianos

1/ This video from @RichardHammond series BIG, discusses a ship akin to #EVERGIVEN in the #SuezBLOCKED.

It is not long but gives an appreciation of the scope & scale of Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCV).

2/ The ships are massive at nearly 400 meters/1,300 feet in length. They are nearly 40M/200FT wide and draw about 14.5M/47.5FT.

3/ These ships carry modular containers. The first container ship - SS Ideal X in 1956 carried 58 boxes. The newest can carry 24,000.

The leap in size has not been linear but exponential. As ships increase in length, beam, and depth, their volume is cubed, hence Ultra-Large.

4/ The containers themselves come in two sizes. A 20ft equivalent unit (TEU) or 40ft (FEU). Ever Given is a 20,000 TEU ship, but that does not mean there are 20,000 boxes on board. Most boxes will be the longer 40ft FEU. So she will probably have between 12k units on board.

5/ A lot of talk about helicopters lifting containers off, here is the lift capabilities for the US CH-53K Stallion helicopter: 14 tons.

The maximum weight in a 40ft (FEU) is 29 tons.

6/The other element is lifting the containers off with cranes. Ships like #EVERGIVEN can only go into a few ports world wide due to her size. Additionally, while the top containers are lashed, most are in cell guides to facilitate loading and storing.

7/It would be difficult to move some containers if the ship is not level. Currently she is up at the bow and listing to port. Plus any floating crane or shoreside crane would have a difficult time reaching cargo in the interior.

8/Add to it just the sheer number of stacks along the length and width of the vessel and her depth.

9/At the very bottom of the stack, on top of the double bottom, looking up at just those containers that would be stacked within the hull of the vessel. She stacks 21 x 8ft containers. That is 168FT/51M.

10/All this is meant to say is that @ever_given is a big ship and @istheshipstuck.

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