ABOARD THE MARY MAERSK ERIK OLSEN OPEN- SOUND OF WATER AND LOOKING DOWN AT SHIP WAVES Shots showing hugeness of ship: CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: We are on board the Mary Maersk the Maersk Triple-E the biggest container ships in the world 399.7 meters long and 59 meters wide. At the moment we are on the way from Gothenburg to Bremerhaven. Sound up walkie talkie VOICEOVER CAPTAIN FRANZ HOLMBERG HAS ONE OF THE MOST COVETED JOBS IN THE MARITIME. HE IS IN COMMAND OF THE MARY MAERSK, PART OF A NEW CLASS OF SHIPS CALLED THE TRIPLE-E THAT IN 2013 BECAME THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD. CAPTAIN FRANZ HOLMBERG: It can hold 18,400 containers stacking up to a maximum of 10 high on deck. // They can be stacked ten high. Here you see them 4 high so we can stack six more containers. STRETCHING 1,312 FEET, THE MARY MAERSK IS AS LONG AS THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING IS TALL. IT CONTAINS ENOUGH STEEL TO MAKE 8 EIFFEL TOWERS. THE MAERSK SHIPPING COMPANY LAUNCHED THE TRIPLE-E LINE IN JUNE OF 2013. TEN OF THE SHIPS NOW PLY THE SEAS FROM EUROPE TO ASIA, IN PART TO SATISFY THE HUNGER FOR EUROPEAN GOODS AMONG CHINA’S RAPIDLY GROWING MIDDLE CLASS. Sound up music. Sound/music up: Port scenes montage CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: It’s 2:20 in the morning and the operation is almost completed now, so we’re making ready to sail. // The rest of the crew is doing stowaway check at the moment. Most of the think any ship is going for america which is where apparently they want to go so they’ll be sorely disappointed here. PILOT MAGNUS LINDGREN: These ships are so big you have think in advance. It’s not like a car. Gothenburg has a good port for this always have safety distance under the keel to make sure they dont hit the bottom. Music and shots in Gothenburg. ANDREW GILL: So you’re working eight hours a day, four hours on eight hours off. That’s time on the bridge, being a lookout or on the pilotage. I should be for around three months on any one vessel. ALEXANDR GAPONOV: I am second engineer from Ukraine living in Odessa. My grandfather was a seaman, my father was also an engineer. I enjoy this life. It’s a tough life. It’s very exciting because all this extremely expensive machinery and you are actually the one who is running it and depending on your judgement or your decision either you will be in big trouble or you will be a winner. Propeller and the music: AT $190 MILLION EACH, THE NEW SHIPS ARE A BIG GAMBLE FOR THE MAERSK COMPANY, WHICH IS BETTING HEAVILY ON AN IMPROVING GLOBAL ECONOMY DURING A TIME OF LINGERING UNCERTAINTY. Sound up CURRENTLY, MANY OF THE WORLD’S MAJOR PORTS CANNOT YET ACCOMMODATE SHIPS THIS LARGE, LIMITING THEIR ABILITY TO BE FULLY LOADED AS THEY CROSS THE GLOBE. CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: Its not just building the ships all the ports need to make quite big investments as well. FOR A SHIP SO LARGE, THE CREW IS SMALL, JUST 27 PEOPLE ON THIS TRIP. ALL MEN. WHEN THEY ARE NOT WORKING, THE CREW ENJOYS HOT MEALS, A CINEMA, A SWIMMING POOL, AND A WORKOUT ROOM. Olek guy holding up his arms. “I build it here.” UNDER SAIL THE SHIP BURNS APPROXIMATELY 100 TONS OF FUEL A DAY, IT’S SINGLE LARGEST COST. THE COMPANY SAYS HOWEVER IT ACHIEVES SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS THROUGH ITS UNIQUE DESIGN. CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: A great deal of shipbuilding engineering and science has been put into finding the optimal hull shape. These ships are very fuel efficient in themselves and if you compare to the amount of cargo we carry its extremely fuel efficient. Even though we consume a lot of fuel the fuel consumed per container, there is no other form of transport which can compare closely to the fuel per ton of cargo ratio. There’s nothing that gets even close. Sound up helicopter. CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: Because the ship is more than 345 meters in length, the german regulations state that we have to take the pilot pretty far out at sea. Since its so far away from everything the pilot will be arriving by helicopter. Sound up helicopter. CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: In any port we go in there will always be pilots. They have local knowledge that they communicate with the tugs. I own the car and they own the parking lot and if I want to park in their parking lot they want someone there as well. ME: What is that like to drop in like that? You look like a Navy commando. PILOT: I don’t know but it’s not so easy. Especially if you have stormy weather, but under this circumstances its quite good. FIRST MATE: One of the things we have to worry about is the draft. I have to be sure we can go in to this tight sensitive port. We are not heavy loaded now. We have a draft right now of 12.2 meters. We can only come in at high tide if the draft exceeds 12.3 meters. Shot of ship docking. Time-lapse. CAPTAIN HOLMBERG: Everytime new series comes out everybody says they can’t get any bigger and then a few after then they just add a little bit more. =============================== FOR SEVERAL DAYS IN JULY, THE NEW YORK TIMES GOT TO SPEND TIME ON BOARD THE MARY MAERSK AS SHE SAILED FROM GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN TO ROTTERDAM IN THE NETHERLANDS.