Maersk McKinney Moller, Maersk Line’s iconic Triple E created a record of sailing with the record load of 18,168 TEU from the port of Algeciras, Spain, company web-site said. The ship is now en route to Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia.
With this, Maersk McKinney Moller becomes the first vessel to have sailed with over 18,000 TEUs and breaks the previous record set by Mary Maersk that also sailed from Algeciras with 17,603 TEU.
Niels Vestergaard Pedersen, Captain of Maersk McKinney Moller, said: “Personally I am both very proud, and humbled, to be the Captain of the iconic Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller, and to be the first vessel to cross the 18,000 TEU limit. All crew members have shared their excitement with cameras, questions, and of course a lot of planning and calculations.”
Stowage on a Triple-E can prove to be an exciting challenge and Maersk McKinney Moller loaded the 11th tier as it crossed the 18,000 TEU mark. “It is not an easy task to fill up a vessel like this. It is difficult to make a record like this, with a few people pushing, and many highlighting the risks. It is 100 percent team work all over the line, and a lot of planning and thoughts had been done” adds Captain Pedersen.
A Triple-E vessel loaded to full capacity would invariably mean positive environmental impact. The Triple-E can transport 2,500 more containers than Maersk’s E-class ships – while using 20 percent less fuel and cutting CO2 emissions by 20 percent, thereby making it more energy efficient as a choice.
Maersk McKinney Moller is iconic as it was the first of the Maersk Triple-E vessels and has been named after Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller (1913-2012), the global shipping leader and the son of A.P. Moller, founder of Maersk Group.