The floating container platform turning heads

Every so often a ship comes along that makes even seasoned shipping watchers look twice. Meet the Fan Zhou 8, an extraordinary floating container platform that has just carried more than 3,000 teu out of China.

According to Alphaliner, German independent carrier Carrier53′ Shipping chartered the 2024-built, 58,405 dwt heavy-load deckship from China’s Jiangsu Fanzhou Shipping for a September loading at Taicang, near Shanghai.

The vessel loaded 1,558 40 ft high-cube containers, equivalent to 3,116 teu, stacked across an enormous open deck measuring 256 m long and 51 m wide. Its vast, unobstructed deck covers an area equivalent to almost two football pitches.

The boxes were arranged in 17 bays and 20 rows, stacked five tiers high, with just two tiers on the outer rows.

Alphaliner describes the ship as one of the world’s largest heavy-load deckships, a vessel type rarely seen carrying containers on this scale. The voyage was arranged in cooperation with container trader Lotus Containers.

Carrier53′ specialises in unconventional cargo movements, including oversized 53 ft containers manufactured in China for the North American market. Such boxes can prove awkward for conventional liner operators, particularly when capacity is tight.

The Fan Zhou 8 headed towards the Red Sea after loading, although its final destination has not been disclosed.

Alphaliner noted in its latest weekly report another unusual deckship making headlines this month. Sea Legend’s 1,480 teu Tiger Maanshan recently reached Felixstowe and Rotterdam after sailing from China via the Northern Sea Route. Unlike the Fan Zhou 8, however, that vessel was specifically designed to carry LNG tank containers.

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