World’s Largest Container Ships Will Be Recycled…Eventually

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Maersk will build world's largest container ships, then recycle themPlenty of people are interested in recycling shipping containers – the military even mods them out to build fake training villages – but what about recycling the entire ship? Well, Danish shipping giant Maersk is going for it on a grand scale. The company is ordering up to 30 new ships at $190 million a pop. Called the Triple-E class, they are said to be the largest vessel of any kind (at least, for now), and each will come with a cradle-to-cradle “passport” documenting every component for future recycling or reuse.

Recycling Old Ships

Salvage is about as old as shipping itself, but the Maersk program takes it to a new level. As Will Nichols over at businessgreen.com reports, the company anticipates that about 90% of the material on each ship can be re-used to build future ships. The other 10% will be recycled or disposed of “in the safest, most efficient manner” according to the company. Documenting the components builds a significant new measure of cost-effectiveness into lifecycle planning, which adds to the value of recycled materials compared to newly manufactured components.

Greener Shipping

Carbon emissions from shipping are a big and growing part of the climate change picture. Maersk’s new ships offer a way to help get that under control, and not just through recycling. The new ships were named Triple-E for “Economy of scale, Energy efficient, and Environmentally improved.” Scale is pretty straightforward: bigger ships mean fewer trips. A new hull and bow design will contribute to energy efficiency, and the ships will sport a waste heat recovery system to capture and reuse the energy from engine exhaust gas. All together, Maersk expects the ships to move containers through the Asia-Europe trade lane with about 50 percent less carbon emissions and 35 percent less fuel per container than the industry average.

Image: Recycling by Tamaa Burross on flickr.com.


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Tina Casey

Tina specializes in advanced energy technology, military sustainability, emerging materials, biofuels, ESG and related policy and political matters. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on LinkedIn, Threads, or Bluesky.

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