Ever Alot arrived in the port of Rotterdam.

The world’s largest container ship (for now) has arrived in the Port of Rotterdam.

The ship Ever Alot is almost 400 meters long and 61.5 meters wide and can ship a maximum of 24,0004 containers of 20FT.

However, there is some doubt about the efficiency of these gigantic container ships.

The Ever Alot has been in operation since this year and can carry just slightly more containers than other ships of the same size. That record will not stand for long, because the MSC Tessa will also make its maiden voyage later this year and that ship has a capacity of 24,116 20-foot containers.

Ships capable of carrying even more cargo are already under construction. The ships all have roughly the same dimensions, but they can carry more and more containers.

According to Bart Kuipers, port economist at Erasmus University, the ships are getting bigger, but the terminals where the containers have to be unloaded have not grown with them.“

According to him, many terminals are therefore unable to unload these large ships efficiently, leading to congestion. „And also, the handling of these containers to the hinterland via barge leads to long waiting times.“

The Ever Alot sails under the Panamanian flag and is chartered by the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen. Evergreen ships have called at Rotterdam before. The best known is probably the Ever Given.

This ship became stuck in the Suez Canal last year, making it impossible for any other container ship to pass through the important canal for days.

After a long struggle over who should foot the bill for the blockade, the ship finally arrived in Rotterdam at the end of July.