ABSTRACT

Deep sea traffic is all traffic engaged in the maritime carriage of cargoes, be they bulk or containerised, over long maritime distances (e.g. transatlantic, transpacific, or from the Far East to Europe). Over the years, the vessels involved in such trades have increased in size, especially in the container sector. Thirty years ago, in the 1970s, the average size of a container vessel was some 50,000 grt (gross registered tonnes), with a container-carrying capacity of approximately 2,500 to 3,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units). The present generation of containerships has increased those figures to a gross tonnage of 150,000 per vessel, with a container-carrying capacity of up to 11,000 TEU, exemplified by the ‘‘E’’ Class vessels of the A.P. Møller Maersk Fleet. The Maersk Line, originally founded in Denmark in 1904, is at present the largest operator of container vessel fleets and supply vessel fleets in the world, and hence accounts for a large proportion of the carriage of maritime containers and maritime cargoes worldwide.