Maersk has commissioned 20 Triple E's to be built, and I arrived on the day of the delivery and naming ceremony of the 9th of those ships, the Matz Maersk (there were 8 other Triple E's at different stages of production at the shipyard at the same time). After the champagne smashing ceremony I was expecting a tour of the ship from someone who knew it inside and out - instead I was just told "here it is - off you go!". "Er OK ... do you have a map?". "No. The engine is that way, the bridge is that way. Have fun, and make sure you aren't on board in 5 hours because the ship will be leaving for Russia." So off I went ...

That was fun. Apart from a couple of guys finishing some last-minute paint jobs, I pretty much had the whole ship to myself. First I hit the engine rooms: two massive engines power the ship, and the rooms that house them are arranged on about 5 stories at the back of the boat. Oops I mean ship, not boat. I kept saying "boat" while I was there and getting told off for it. Apparently I should actually be saying "vessel". Anyway, despite being slightly worried that I was going to get lost and end up stuck on board on the way to Vladivostok, I opened a few hatches and ended up in the middle of the vessel, the area where the containers are kept, stacked 11 levels high on the inside and 10 levels high on the outside. Did I mention the Triple E can carry 18,000 containers? The space was completely empty, and holy crap it was big. Really really big. Somehow I made it out of there and was pretty happy to find out the ship was still docked, so I made my way up to the bridge. Only 15 crew live on the ship when it is at sea, and their living quarters make up the tower that sits under the bridge. They have a small cinema and a little swimming pool (which was empty). On the bridge I met the new Captain of the Matz Maersk, Lars Peter Jensen, for whom this was just another day in the office - Captain Jensen has worked for Maersk for 42 years and served as captain on each of the 4 previous "largest ships in the world". I made it off the ship in time and waved it on its way.