The Emma Maersk, part of a Danish shipping line, is shown in the photos below.
What a ship....no wonder 'Made in China ' is displacing North American made goods big time. This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned, to be completed in 2012.
These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China. They hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam!! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000). With it's 207' beam it is too big to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals.
The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. Ninety-one percent (91%!) of Walmart products are made in China. So this behemoth is hugely competitive even when carrying perishable goods. The ship was built in five sections. The sections floated together and then welded. The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously unloading the entire ship in less than two hours.
Additional info:
Country of origin - Denmark
Length - 1,302 ft
Width - 207 ft
Net cargo - 123,200 tons
Engine - 14 cylinders in-line diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
Cruise Speed - 31 knots
Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 cubic feet)
Crew - 13 people!
First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006
Construction cost - US $145,000,000+
Silicone painting applied to the ship bottom reduces water resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year.
Editorial Comment!
A recent documentary in late March, 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China, EMPTY. Yep, that's right. The United States send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about the current financial state of this country? Just keep buying those imported goods (mostly gadgets) until you run out of money.
End Forward (after much cleaning of bad formatting).
To me things that are Made in China are poisonous to the American way of life. Not only the lead tainted toys they send over and Wal-Mart puts on shelves for you to buy. The one-way money train is bleeding this nation dry. And for what? Cheaply made plastic crap that'll probably end up out in the Pacific plastic nightmare island gyre. I refuse things from Wal-Mart because I cannot stand to support a corporation that is so hell bent on the destruction of America for their profits. I urge all Americans to buy American and to Just Say No to Made in China!