Largest container ship (capacity)

The largest container ships by capacity are Ever Alot, Ever Atop and Ever Aria, the three most recently completed ships in the Evergreen A class. These vessels have a gross tonnage of 236,228, an overall length of 399.9 m (1,312 ft) and a maximum cargo load of 24,004 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard measure of container-carrying capacity). The first of these ships, the Ever Alot entered service on 27 June 2022.

There are a few larger ships under construction (the MSC Celestino Maresca, Tessa, Loreto and Irina). However, as of 6 Feb 2023, while several have been launched and floated at the dockyard, none of these have actually been commissioned into service.

The external dimensions of container ships are limited by a mixture of financial and practical considerations. The reach of the gantry cranes used to load and unload ships puts a limit of about 60 m on width, the depth of the Suez Canal limits ships' draught to 20 m and the height of various bridges that the ships need to pass under means they can't be taller than about 65 m. The reason why the largest ships are all exactly 399.9 m long, however, is purely financial – ships over 400 m are regarded as oversized, which means they pay higher docking fees at many ports, and require the owners to pay for services such as tugboat escorts when transiting constricted waterways.