''MSC Zoe'' is an Olympic-class container ship built by

Hanwha Ocean Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd. (), formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME; ), is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai and Samsung Heavy Industries, Samsung. History ...

and operated by the

Mediterranean Shipping Company Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, since 1978. It is the ...

. ''MSC Zoe'' was one of the largest

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s in the world when built in 2015. It is the third of a series of ships built for MSC, after ''

MSC Oscar ''MSC Oscar'', and sister ships ''MSC Zoe'' and '' MSC Oliver'', are large container ships. Christened on 8 January 2015, ''MSC Oscar'' was recognised as the largest container ship in the world; until then '' CSCL Globe'', inaugurated in Novemb ...

'' and '' MSC Oliver''.

Name

''MSC Zoe'' takes her name from the four year old grand-daughter of Gianluigi Aponte, the

(MSC) president and chief executive.

Construction

''MSC Zoe'' was built by

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; ; ; ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "''dae''" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerate) and aut ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

for $140 million.

Ship's particulars

At a length of and beam of , ''MSC Zoe'' has a

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of . She has a capacity of 19,224 TEU and a cargo capacity ( dwt) of 199,272 tonnes.

Propulsion

The vessel's main engine is a two-stroke

MAN B&W MAN Diesel SE was a German manufacturer of large-bore diesel engines for marine propulsion systems and power plant applications. In 2010 it was merged with MAN Turbo to form MAN Diesel & Turbo. History In 1980 MAN acquired the Burmeister & Wain ...

11S90ME-C diesel engine, which is a height of , a length of and a breadth of . The engine has a

maximum continuous rating In electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, the power rating of equipment is the highest power input allowed to flow through particular equipment. According to the particular discipline, the term ''power'' may refer to electrical or ...

of at 82.2 rpm and a normal continuous rating of at 79.4 rpm.

Loss of containers at sea

On 1 January 2019, 342 containers went overboard whilst ''MSC Zoe'' was sailing on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. Two hundred ninety-seven containers were lost north of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

island

Ameland Ameland (; ) is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes and is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Terschelling to the west a ...

, the remaining containers some hours later north of the German island

Borkum Borkum (; ) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait (which forms the ...

. Nineteen of the containers and their contents – including

organic peroxides In organic chemistry, organic peroxides are organic compounds containing the peroxide functional group (). If the R′ is hydrogen, the compounds are called hydroperoxides, which are discussed in that article. The O−O bond of peroxides easily b ...

, children's toys, shoes, bags, cushions, chairs, televisions, and plastic packaging – washed ashore on the Dutch islands of

Vlieland (; ) is a municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland is the second most sparsely populated municipality in the Netherlands, after Schiermonnikoog. Vlieland is one of the West Frisian Islands, lying in t ...

, Terschelling,

and

Schiermonnikoog Schiermonnikoog (; ) is an island, a municipality and national park in the Northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland. It is situated between the islands of Ameland and Rot ...

and German island Borkum in the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( ; ; or ; ; ; ) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tida ...

, a protected UNESCO biosphere reserve. In 2020, the

Dutch Safety Board The Dutch Safety Board (DSB; , OVV, literally "Investigation Council for Safety") is the official body that investigates a wide variety of safety matters in the Netherlands. It is based in The Hague.BSU and ''Panama Maritime Authority'' published a joint report on their investigation of the incident. It notes that the loss of containers occurred over several hours, due to strong rolling and the associated accelerations caused by the prevalent sea conditions at the time. Although it found that the loading and securing of the cargo was in accordance with regulations at the time, it recommended to revise the regulations with special consideration of very large container ships. In 2019 the shipping company created a list of places at sea where contents of the containers still can be found but did not publish it. After a lengthy legal battle against the Dutch government (who deemed the waste "litter") this list was made public in April 2024. It contains 6000 places at sea, and it totals around , circa a quarter of the original waste.

Sisterships

*''

'' *'' MSC Oliver'' *''

MSC Maya ''MSC Maya'' is one of the world's largest container ships, built in 2015. The cargo ship has the capacity for 19,224 TEU. Design ''MSC Maya'' was built in 2015 in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering by yard number 4280. The container sh ...

'' *''MSC Sveva''

References

{{2019 shipwrecks 2015 ships Container ships Ships built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Maritime incidents in 2019