The Emma Maersk.
By: Steve Adams. G0KVZ
This was originally presented to the Vange Amateur Radio Society on the 10th June 2010.
When she was built in June 2006, the Emma Maersk became the worlds largest container ship.
Her dimensions were (and still are) awe inspiring.
With a length of nearly 400 metres, and a beam of 56 metres, she has a maximum capacity is 14,500 TEU with the containers being stacked 22 wide across her beam.
Power is provided by a massive diesel engine that delelops 109,000HP (About 1000 times the power of a medium sized family saloon).
The engine has 14 cylinders, with each piston having a diameter of 28" and a stroke of 98", this amounts to a total displacement of 1800 litres (PER CYLINDER!) The total capacity of the engine is 25,480 Litres.
She even boasts five seperate diesel generators that produce 4.14MW of power, this combined with the 8.5MW that is generated by an exhaust gas turbine,
amounts to around 29MW that is used to maintain the refrigeration of climate controlled containers, along with communication, cooking and lighting aboard the ship.
The Maersk company have also added seven sister ships of the Emma to their fleet, and these are:
Evelyn, Eugen, Estelle, Elly, Elanora, Edith, and Ebba.
An episode of Mighty Ships produced by the discovery channel featured the Emma in Season One of 'Mighty Ships'.
Sadly from the Discovery Channel website the video not available for viewing in the UK!
But keep an eye out around UK ports, as the Emma and her sister ships are frequent visitors!