Confirmation of the size of MSC Oscar comes as the industry waits for the first 20,000 teu-class ship to be ordered.

Japan’s MOL is thought to be very close to placing an order for up to six of that size, through a lease agreement, for deployment within an Asia-Europe loop operated by the G6 alliance.

Another member of that consortium, OOCL, is expected to sign contracts soon for the same number of ships so as to complete the set needed for a service.

Evergreen has also said it is considering orders for ultra-large boxships.

MSC Oscar marks another stage of an extraordinary progression in containership sizes over the past two decades.

It is almost exactly 19 years since the world’s first 6,000 teu ship was unveiled to wide acclaim; the 318 m long, 43 m wide Regina Maersk was built at AP Moller-Maersk’s Odense shipyard.

That size was quickly surpassed, Maersk’s Emma Maersk setting the next benchmark with a capacity eventually acknowledged at 15,550 teu.

The 397 m long, 56 m wide ship was also built in Denmark, but Maersk turned to South Korea for its Triple-Es, with DSME landing the order.

These ships, built at the same yard in Okpo as MSC Oscar, are 400 m long, with a beam of 59 m.7

List of 10 largest container ships

This is a list of the 10 largest container ships. The size of a container ship is defined throughout the world in terms of TEU capacity.