We at More Than Shipping recently reported on greener, fuel-efficient ships being one of the latest trends in shipping. But, another big trend is mega container ships entering the global shipping world. Now, this week, a Chinese shipbuilder made news by delivering a record-breaking mega container ship, the MSC Tessa.
The 24,116-TEU megavessel MSC Tessa was delivered to MSC this week.
Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a Chinese shipbuilding company, finished work and delivered the world’s largest container ship this week, with a capacity of over 24,000 TEUs. The ship will be part of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC)’s global fleet of container ships.
With an eye to the future, the mega container ship includes some environmentally-conscious features, although it is not electric-powered. MSC Tessa is equipped with energy-saving ducts to conserve energy usage, and a hybrid scrubber for cleaner fuel emissions. With air lubrication, the vessel is expected to reduce carbon emissions by up to 4%.
The previous record for a megavessel was set by Ever Alot, which has a capacity of 24,004 TEUs and was entered into service in June 2022.
MSC Tessa is one part of a four-ship deal between MSC and a Chinese bank.
In 2020, MSC and the Chinese Book of Communications Financial Leasing (BOCOM Leasing) signed a deal for four vessels at a price of $600 million. At the time, the vessels were coined Ultramax, due to their very-large capacity compared to other ships in use at the time. Two other megavessels under the deal are still under construction, while one other is still being tested before being delivered.
The trend of megavessels was established as shipping companies underwent several trends between 2016 and the Covid pandemic. First, megavessels were a good fit for the shipping alliances that large shipping companies created in the wake of the Hanjin bankruptcy. Additionally, megavessels factored in “economies of scale”, as these shippers sought to reduce costs and increase return-on-investments.
At More Than Shipping, we will continue to keep you posted on new developments with megavessels such as MSC Tessa.