A container ship 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 freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo.
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 Switzerland since 1978. It is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, controlling about 19.7 percent of the global container ship fleet.
CMA CGM is a French shipping and logistics company founded in 1978 by Jacques Saadé. It is the third largest container shipping company in the world, with a presence in 160 countries through 400 offices, 750 warehouses, 155,000 employees and a wide fleet of 593 vessels. CMA CGM serves 420 of the world’s 521 commercial ports and operates 257 shipping lines. The company is headquartered in Marseille, France. The name is an acronym of two predecessor companies, Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA) and Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM), which translate as "Maritime Freighting Company" and "General Maritime Company".
The E class comprises eight 14,770 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container ships. Each sister ship bears a name beginning with the letter "E". Until 2012, they were the largest container ship ever constructed, and are among the longest ships currently in use at 398 metres (1,306 ft) long and 56 metres (184 ft) wide. They are owned by the Danish A. P. Moller-Maersk Group. The first in the class built was Emma Maersk by Odense Steel Shipyard Ltd., Denmark. The ships Emma, Estelle, and Eugen were subjects of TV documentaries. The E class was followed by the larger and more fuel efficient Triple E class.
The Triple E class is a family of very large container ships with a capacity of more than 18,000 TEUs, which are owned and operated by Maersk Line.
Soroe Maersk is a container ship. She was launched on 23 April 1999.
Maersk Line is a Danish international container shipping company and the largest operating subsidiary of Maersk, a Danish business conglomerate. Founded in 1928, it is the world's second largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, offering regular services to 374 ports in 116 countries. In 2019, it employed 83,625 people where 18,398 of which are vessel crew and the other 65,227 are processing and operations personnel in offices and ports. Maersk Line operates over 708 vessels and has a total capacity of about 4.1 million TEU.
Maersk Honam is a container ship operated by Maersk Line. The vessel caught fire on 6 March 2018 while sailing in the Arabian Sea. Five members of the crew of 27 were killed, including one rescued crew member who died later from injuries.
The Gülsün class is a series of container ships built for Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The largest ships have a maximum theoretical capacity of 23,756 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). They were the largest container ships in the world when they were launched in 2019, surpassing OOCL Hong Kong. They have since been surpassed by other ships like the Algeciras class. The ships were the first container ships to feature 24 containers wide on deck.
COSCO SHIPPING Lines Co., Ltd. is a Chinese international container transportation and shipping company. It is a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Holdings, and its parent company is China's state-owned COSCO Shipping.
The Gudrun class is a series of 6 container ships built for Maersk Line. The ships were built by Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark and have a maximum theoretical capacity of around 11,078 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The M class is a series of 6 container ships built for Maersk Line. The ships were built by Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark and have a maximum theoretical capacity of around 11,008 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The C class is a series of 8 container ships built for Maersk Line. The ships were built by Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark and have a maximum theoretical capacity of around 9,640 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The A class is a series of 6 container ships built for Maersk Line. The ships were built by Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark and have a maximum theoretical capacity of around 8,272 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The Sovereign class is a series of 9 container ships built for Maersk Line. The ships were built by Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark and have a maximum theoretical capacity of around 9,640 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The Red Sea crisis, also referred to as the United States–Iran proxy war, is an ongoing military standoff that began on 19 October 2023, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement within Yemen launched a barrage of missiles and armed drones at Israel. Operating against Yemen's internationally recognized government, the Houthi movement's militants have controlled a considerable swath of the country's coastal territory along the Red Sea since 2014, and have used these grounds as a staging point for multiple hostile seizures of civilian-operated cargo ships sailing near the Yemeni coast. The Houthis have claimed any Israel-linked shipping as a target, although multiple vessels with no apparent link to Israel have also been attacked.
Maersk Hangzhou is an H-class container ship operated by Maersk Line.
On 30 December 2023, Houthi forces in the Gulf of Aden attacked the Maersk commercial vessel Maersk Hangzhou. Early the next day, Houthis again attacked the Maersk Hangzhou, attempting to board the freighter. The Maersk Hangzhou made a distress signal, to which U.S. Navy forces of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and destroyer USS Gravely responded. The U.S., along with Maersk security personnel aboard the ship, repelled the attack. The U.S. sank three Houthi vessels, killing ten Houthis. Maersk announced a 48-hour pause on shipping through the Red Sea following the incident.
These are timelines of the Red Sea crisis, which began on 19 October 2023.
