MSC Takes Delivery of Next Megaship
MSC Oliver, the second of the MSC’s 19,224 TEU series of vessels, has been inaugurated at the DSME shipyard in Busan, South Korea, just two months after the delivery of MSC Oscar.
MSC Oliver is the second in its class, and along with MSC Oscar, it is part of the 20 mega-ships over 19,000 TEU which MSC has scheduled for delivery by the end of the year.
MSC Oliver is one of MSC’s series of six Olympic series ultra large container ships. The remaining sister vessels of the Olympic series are expected to be completed by November 2015.
These deliveries could move MSC into the position of being the largest container shipping line in the world.
Like MSC Oscar, MSC Oliver is equivalent to the size of four combined football fields. The 45,300 ton steel MSC Oscar, which cost $140 million to build, is 395m long, 59m wide with a draught of 16m.
Both vessels are equipped with a modern, low fuel consumption diesel engine which has been optimized so that fuel consumption can be automatically controlled to take into account both speed and weather conditions, and they have a broad optimal speed range for enhanced operational flexibility.
Lukoil Marine is supplying the lubricants for the engines. The company also supplies more than 100 vessels in the MSC fleet.
The vessels have a double hull structure that provides additional strength and resistance for heavy cargo loads in all weather conditions.
Traditionally, MSC container ships are named after female relatives of company employees. To date, there are just five exceptions: MSC Aniello, MSC Don Giovanni, MSC Diego, MSC Oscar and now MSC Oliver.
“As these are the next generation of MSC container vessels it is fitting that they be named after the grandchildren of MSC founder, Gianluigi Aponte,” explained Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, during the delivery ceremony, “Our children carry the promise of this family’s future and these ships, the promise of MSC’s destiny.”
The vessels are classed by DNV GL. “For over forty years the MSC family has been growing – and so too has our fleet,” said Diego Aponte, MSC President and CEO. “Our partnership with DNV GL continues to be an important part of our journey.”
Initially specified at 18,000 TEU MSC Oscar was expanded during the building phase to add an extra tier above decks. The state of the art container ship is unique in its wide beam design and use of torsion box and hatch coaming plates with steel plate thickness up to 100mm. The vessel is able to carry dangerous goods in holds and approximately 1,800 reefer containers.
MSC Oliver goes into service on the Albatross Service which operates between Asia-Europe later this week.
In less than twenty years the loading capacity of container vessels has more than tripled, with the length of the biggest vessels jumping from just over 300 to 400m during that time.
Infographic source: Twitter