gCaptain reports that Japanese container shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has taken delivery of the MOL Triumph, the new ‘world’s biggest containership’ and the first ‘megaship’ to pass the 20,000 TEU threshold.

The MOL Triumph was delivered Monday by Samsung Heavy Industries in Geoje, South Korea, where the vessel has been under construction since January 2016 – just 15 months ago. The vessel was named during a ceremony at the shipyard held March 15.

At 400 meters in length and 58.8 meters in beam, the MOL Triumph is now officially the world’s largest containership with capacity to carry a whopping 20,150 twenty-foot containers (TEU). She is the first of six 20,000 TEU-class Ultra-Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) MOL ordered from SHI back in February 2015.

The MOL Triumph will operate on THE Alliance’s Asia to Europe trade via the FE2 service. Beginning in April she will set off on her maiden voyage from Xingang, sailing to Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Yantian and Singapore. The vessel will then transit through the Suez Canal and continue on to Tangier, Southampton, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Le Havre, before calling at Tangier and Jebel Ali on her way back to Asia.

“The MOL Group is honored to unveil this new vessel, which is the largest containership in the world,” commented Junichiro Ikeda, President and CEO of MOL.  “The vessel is equipped with various new sustainable technologies to provide more efficient fuel consumption and improved environmental performance.”

The new 20,000 TEU-class containerships are equipped with various highly advanced energy-saving technologies, such as low friction underwater paint, high efficiency propeller and rudder, “savor stator” as a stream fin on the hull body, and an optimized fine hull form, which together can further reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per container moved by about 25-30% when compared to 14,000 TEU-class containerships, according to MOL. The vessel has also been designed with the retrofit option to convert to LNG fueled ship in the future as the International Maritime Organization’s new regulation to limit SOx emission in marine fuels comes into effect in 2020.

MOL will take the delivery of the second 20,000 TEU-class vessel in May 2017. Eventually there will be six of the 20,000 TEU-class containerships, which will be phased in gradually on the existing trade routes of MOL.

MOL Triumph takes the title as the “world’s largest containership” from the 19,224 TEU MSC Oscar and her three sister ships. The four vessels were delivered to Mediterranean Shipping Company in 2015 by South Korea’s DSME. They measure 395.4 meters in length and have a beam of 59 meters.

MOL Triumph Vessel Particulars

• Length: 400m
• Breadth: 58.8m
• Depth: 32.8m
• Deadweight Tonnage: 192,672MT