The Mega-Container Ship

The definition of the mega-container ship has changed in lock step with the construction of larger and larger vessels. In the mid-1980s, when United States Lines built its “Jumbo Econ” container ships (now owned by Sea-Land as its Atlantic Class), their 4354-TEU capacity was classified in the “mega” region. Today, “mega-container ship” describes only those vessels having a capacity in excess of 6000 TEU and the definition changes as each new generation of vessels is delivered. Around 7700 TEU are carried on today’s mega- carrier, which is about 1138 feet (347 meters) in length–almost a quarter mile, or, in the popular idiom, nearly “four football fields”– and has a beam of 140 feet (42.8 meters). The container stack is 17 wide.