Inside One of the World’s Largest Container Ships

Step aboard the Marie Maersk, a massive shipping container vessel.

Welcome aboard the Marie Maersk…A massive cargo container ship and one of the biggest moving objects ever built. Shipping container vessels carry 90% of all global trade.  If you’ve ever purchased anything, it’s likely to have been shipped in a container via one of these massive ships.  Fully loaded, this enormous craft can hold 18,000 shipping containers. If placed end to end, they would stretch into space. Quarter of a mile long, this cargo shipping container can hold 200,000 tons of cargo. This is achieved by stacking containers in columns, 23 across the width and 24 across the ship’s length. Because there is no deck, cargo containers can be stacked 21 high. To survive the turbulent seas, a torsion box serves as a reinforced rim that stops the ship from flexing. On the Marie Maersk, the torsion box is so big, walking corridors are built within it.