List of largest container ships


have been built in increasingly larger sizes to take advantage of economies of scale and reduce expense as part of intermodal freight transport. Container ships are also subject certain limitations in size. Primarily, these are the availability of sufficiently large main engines and the availability of a sufficient number of ports and terminals prepared and equipped to handle ultra-large container ships. Furthermore, some of the world's main waterways such as the Suez Canal and Singapore Strait also restrict the maximum dimensions of a ship that can pass through them.
The capacity of a container ship is measured by twenty-foot equivalent units. In 2016, Prokopowicz and Berg-Andreassen defined a container ship with a capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 TEU as a Very Large Container Ship, while that with a capacity greater than 20,000 TEU as an Ultra Large Container Ship.
This is a list of container ships with a capacity larger than 20,000 TEU.

Completed ships

Ships on order