Asia/Pacific News
Kosori Developing a 25,000 TEU Container Ship
The Korea Ship and Offshore Research Institute (Kosori) at South Korea's Pusan National University have begun developing a 25,000 twentry-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity containership to take the title of largest in the world, according to local media reports
Currently, the title belongs to Hyundai Heavy Industries' (HHI) 19,000 TEU vessels, which were ordered by China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) back in May 2013.
The institute said that it was previously thought that a ship that could hold more than 20,000 TEU was impossible, a notion which was not helped by recent maritime disasters.
The 8,000 TEU MOL Comfort, chartered by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. sank last year after plates in the middle of the ship buckled, causing the vessel to split in two.
It sank with roughly 3,100 metric tonnes of fuel oil aboard, and is considered by some in the industry to be the worst containership loss in history.
Kosori said that it would be using its buckling analysis technique to ensure optimal structure of a ship of that size.
The Institute said that it has been working with STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, Japanese classification society ClassNK, U.S.-based DRS Group Inc. and NAPA Finland on the project for the past three years.
Lloyd's Register also said that it saw the shipping industry moving towards larger and larger box ships, having commented last month that current shipping volumes supported the eventual creation of a 24,000 TEU containership.
