In 1996 the world's largest container ship could carry 6,000 containers...

[Liberty]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/80104000/gif/_80104798_cscl_globe_cargo_ship_624in.gif

 

It was only in 1996 that the world's first 6,000-container capacity ship, the Regina Maersk, first set sail. The Globe, Triple-E and Oscar are more than three times as big. So, does this rapid development mean ships will continue to get bigger?

 

"There's talk of ships which can take more than 20,000 standard 20ft containers being ordered soon," says Brett, "but a lot of people think they won't be able to go very much further without access to ports becoming a problem.

 

"The 18,000 to 20,000-capacity ships can really only sail on the Asia to Europe lanes. Ports in other lanes, including those in the US, couldn't handle them. About 22,500 seems to be the size that people believe is the ultimate. Lack of port access becomes a problem after that stage."

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30696685

 

Thought this was an interesting piece.

 

Found via @asymco on twitter.

 

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/80091000/jpg/_80091792_global1_get.jpg

[berkshire101]

Wow, we might as well start building floating cities at this rate!

[Liberty]

Wow, we might as well start building floating cities at this rate!

 

Some people are already trying:

 

http://www.seasteading.org/

[berkshire101]

Japan proposed the idea of making a mega-city pyramid in the bay of Tokyo a while back.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimizu_Mega-City_Pyramid

[rkbabang]

Wow, we might as well start building floating cities at this rate!

 

Some people are already trying:

 

http://www.seasteading.org/

 

Even before the Seasteading Institute was The Freedom Ship.