Boat trip and the world's largest ships on the Gulf of Gdańsk

A few years ago, DCT (Deep Container Terminal) in Gdańsk became a so-called ‘hub port’.

This means that the world's largest container ships come to Gdańsk – as the only transhipment port in the Baltic Sea basin – and leave their cargo here, which is then carried by smaller container ships to smaller ports.

A ship carrying containers is, as I mentioned above, a ‘kontenerowiec’ (container ship), but that is a macaronism. For the sake of the purity of the Polish language, the name ‘pojemnikowiec’ was coined, i.e. a ship carrying ‘pojemniki’ (kontener = pojemnik). Containers come in several sizes and several types of build (refrigerated, special high-cube, open-top, frame-only, tanks enclosed in a container format, etc.). The idea, however, is to standardise dimensions and loading methods so that loading and unloading are quick, simple and safe. All kinds of goods are loaded into a container, secured inside and sealed, which makes container logistics much simpler, and that leads directly to savings of time and money.

The first typical container ship was built in the United States in 1956 by converting a tanker. The idea came from Malcolm McLean, the then owner of a fleet of tankers. The first container ship took on board 58 containers of 35’ (feet). The following year, a ship designed specifically for carrying containers was designed and built. It could already take 226 containers of 35’ on board. Container ships appeared in Europe 10 years later and began serving the route between the USA and Europe.

Since then, container logistics has developed strongly, with its greatest boom falling in the last decade. The global village we live in has led to a rapid boom in trade between Europe and the countries of the Far East. The result is the container ships that have today taken the title of the largest ships in the world.

Building container ships resembles the arms race of the Cold War. The two largest maritime logistics companies, Maersk and MSC, keep taking the title of ‘the largest’ from each other. You can admire the results of this logistics war right here in Gdańsk.

We are visited by Triple E class container ships belonging to Maersk, which until last year were the largest. MSC Maya recently made its debut in Gdańsk, dethroning the Triple E class.

What does it look like in figures?

The Maersk Triple E is 20 sister ships, 400 m long and 59 m wide. They take on board 18,000 20’ containers, i.e. TEU – twenty-foot equivalent units (6.1 m long x 2.4 m wide). If you placed all these containers one after another, you could form a line 110 km long!

Sounds like a lot? Well, MSC Maya, together with 3 other sister ships, can do more! It is 0.5 m (half a metre) shorter than the Triple E, so it is not the largest in size, but it takes 19,224 TEU on board. And that makes them currently the largest ships in the world.

Despite their enormous size, these ships are economical and fast. Modern hull shapes, special hull coatings and newly designed engines mean that the ships sail faster and use less fuel, while also caring for the environment.

It is worth noting here that container ships are not the largest ships ever built by humankind. Number One
belongs to the giant tanker TT Knock Nevis, which has since been scrapped. 458 metres long and 69 m wide. Built in 1981 and, after an eventful history, scrapped in 2009 in India.

We will never see the tanker TT Knock Nevis on the Gulf of Gdańsk, but you can freely admire the largest container ships. The same goes for some of the larger cruise ships, which often call at the ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia. And if you like admiring big cruise ships, you will see them right here in Gdynia 🙂

When organising trips from Gdynia to Gdańsk, or even to Hel, in fast RIB boats we can spot these giants without really needing to approach the port.

However, you can see them best during a trip on the red route (Trips on the Gulf of Gdańsk), when we sail from Gdynia to Gdańsk through Główki Zachodnie.

Exploring the Tri-City from the water on a boat trip or a boat ride, you can see many more interesting places and hear much more interesting information about our region.

So we invite you aboard our boats – check out boat hire or water taxi to Hel.