The 40 longest ships ever built
Ranked by length overall — from the 488 m Prelude down to Berge Stahl, with the honest asterisk explained.
Open the board →TEU ratings are nominal — the count of standard slots, not laden records. The bottom entry is left in deliberately: Ideal X carried 58 containers in 1956, and the whole modern number is compound interest on that voyage.
1
MSC Irina24,346 TEU
MSC · 2023In service
2
OOCL Spain24,188 TEU
COSCO Shipping · 2023In service
3
Ever Alot24,004 TEU
Evergreen · 2022In service
4
Ever Ace23,992 TEU
Evergreen · 2021In service
5
HMM Algeciras23,964 TEU
HMM · 2020In service
6
CMA CGM Jacques Saadé23,112 TEU
CMA CGM · 2020In service
7
OOCL Hong Kong21,413 TEU
COSCO Shipping · 2017In service
8
Madrid Mærsk20,568 TEU
Maersk · 2017In service
9
MOL Triumph20,170 TEU
Ocean Network Express · 2017In service
10
Ever Given20,124 TEU
Evergreen · 2018In service
11
Barzan18,800 TEU
Hapag-Lloyd · 2015In service
12
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller18,270 TEU
Maersk · 2013In service
13
Emma Mærsk15,500 TEU
Maersk · 2006In service
14
SS Ideal X58 TEU
Pan-Atlantic Steamship (Sea-Land) · 1956Scrapped 1964
14 ships ranked · every figure sourced on its own page · last verified 2026-07-15
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The biggest cruise ships in the world
Ranked by gross tonnage — the ships you can actually book, led by Royal Caribbean’s Icon class. The full answer to the most-asked question at sea.
Open the board →The biggest ships by gross tonnage
Ranked by gross tonnage — internal volume, the honest measure for passenger ships and the record Pioneering Spirit owns outright.
Open the board →The biggest tankers & bulk giants
Ranked by deadweight — the tonnes a ship can lift. The top of this board is the half-million-tonne club, and most of it died young.
Open the board →The highest-capacity passenger ships
Ranked by passengers at double occupancy — where the mega-resorts stack up, and where the true liners deliberately do not.
Open the board →The Canal-Fit Checker
Pick any ship and get an instant verdict against Panamax, Neopanamax, Suezmax, Malaccamax, Seawaymax and Chinamax — with the limiting dimension highlighted.
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