Photo: Dr. Theo Notteboom, 2009.

Three Containership Classes

Economies of scale and the size specialization of containerships are apparent on the above photo at the port of Algeciras, Spain. At the forefront, a ship of 2,800 TEU (Maersk Jamestown) that can be used to service regional ports or ports generating lower cargo volumes. In the middle is a panamax ship of 4,200 TEU (Lica Maersk) that can be accommodated by ports having a draft of 40 feet. In the back is a ship (Evelyn Maersk) part of the largest containership class in existence with a capacity of 12,500 TEU, supporting the Asia - Europe long distance trade and servicing only the largest ports. Those three ships were all constructed after 2000, underlining that although maritime shipping companies are leaning towards economies of scale, they are using ships classes that optimize their service configuration.

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