When it comes to cargo transportation, ships play a major role in carrying goods from one part of the world to the other. Shipping companies invest a tremendous amount of resources to build these ships, so they can move large capacities of goods efficiently. In this article, we’re going to explore and highlight the biggest cargo ships ever built.
1. Prelude FLNG
The Prelude FLNG (Floating Liquid Natural Gas) is the biggest cargo ship ever built, measuring a whopping 488 meters in length and weighing approximately 600,000 tons. It was created to extract and liquefy natural gas from offshore fields and then transport it to ports where it would be sold. Despite its massive size, the Prelude FLNG is a hybrid fuel ship that utilizes both electricity and LNG to fuel its vast engines.
2. Pioneering Spirit
The Pioneering Spirit is a unique cargo ship that was designed for removing large offshore oil rigs. It’s the second biggest cargo ship ever built, measuring approximately 382 meters in length, and weighing approximately 403,342 tons. It utilizes its two massive hydraulic arms to lift and transport the massive platforms before being dismantled in a scrap yard.
3. Seawise Giant
The Seawise Giant (formerly known as the Happy Giant, then Jahre Viking, and finally the Knock Nevis) was once the biggest cargo ship ever built during the 1970s. Though it is no longer in service, the Seawise Giant measured approximately 458.45 meters in length and had a tonnage of 564,739 tons. It was a crude oil tanker that operated in the Arabian Gulf from 1979 to 1988 until it sustained damage during the Iran-Iraq war.
4. Batillus-class supertankers
The Batillus-class supertankers were the largest ships ever built during their time. Measuring approximately 414 meters in length and weighing around 554,000 tons, these cargo ships were once world leaders in carrying crude oil from the Middle East to Europe. The Batillus-class supertankers were in service from the mid-1970s, and today they have all been scrapped.
5. Emma Maersk-class container ships
The Emma Maersk-class container ships were the largest cargo ships ever built until the creation of the Prelude FLNG. These massive container ships measure approximately 397 meters in length and weigh around 170,974 tons. Created to carry goods between Asia and Europe, these ships can carry up to 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) containers.
The biggest cargo ships ever built are among the most impressive feats of human engineering. They have the capacity to carry thousands of tons of goods, which plays a critical role in meeting the world’s growing demand for consumer goods. While we have highlighted five of the largest cargo ships in this article, there are many more out there, each with their unique features and capabilities.