Giant ship could boost Irish fortunes

MALACCA MAX is not a James Bond villain. It is the codename for a 370,000-ton container ship, far bigger than the current Suez Max and Panamax giants, and it might help Ireland out of our present mess.

This gigantic vessel is designed to squeeze through the Straits of Malacca, the “pinch point” of access to Singapore, now the world’s busiest port. No such ship has yet been built, and some experts argued it would never happen. However, there were reports in December 2010 that the Danish freight line Maersk plans to order 10 of them from the Korean shipyard Daewoo.

Capable of carrying 18,000 containers, these ships will be huge, both above and below the waterline. If built to the full 21-metre depth of the Malacca Straits, these monsters will need 70 feet of water at low tide. A handful of deep harbours around the world will be used as “hubs“, with smaller ships distributing goods to feeder ports. Few Western ports could take the Malacca Max. New York is being dredged to 15 metres, also the depth of the UK’s largest container port, Felixstowe. Antwerp is around 17 metres and Hamburg under 15. Currently, only one EU port, Rotterdam, is deep enough for the Malacca Max.