Container Ship

Container ships are used for worldwide Transport of ISO containers. The loading capacity of container ships is indicated in TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units).
A TEU thus corresponds to a standard 20' container and a 40' container thus corresponds to 2 TEUs, also called FEU (Forty-foot Equivalent Unit).
The guide rails in the vertical of a container ship are usually designed for 40' containers. Non-standardised containers, such as the rarely used 30' container, must therefore always be loaded on deck.

Up to a loading capacity of 3500 TEUs, some container ships have their own cranes with which the containers can be loaded and stowed. From 3500 TEUs loading capacity, the ships need so-called Container gantry cranes, as they can be found at large container ports worldwide.

At present about 90% of the general cargo of the world trade is transported by container ships.

Essentially, a distinction is made between 6 types of container ship:

1. post-Panamax vessels
2. suezmax container ships
3. malaccamax container ships
4. ultra large container ships
5. reefer container ships
6. container ships without hatch covers

The largest container ships at the time, commissioned by the Danish shipping company Maersk, have a capacity of 15500 TEUs.