Maersk unveils world's biggest ship in weak freight market

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The moment finally arrived at the end of last week: the first of Maersk’s new Triple-E 18,000teu container ships was named in South Korea. Christened Maersk McKinney Moller, the company’s chairman until his death a year ago, the vessel will shortly enter service on the Asia-Europe trade, where there is currently a surfeit of capacity. However, in this Reuters report, Maersk chief executive Soren Skou claimed that the recent decline in freight rates, unprecedented in their steepness, would be mitigated by the new vessels’ cost efficiency.