Berge Stahl
Berge Bulk · Bulk · Retired 2021 · built by Hyundai Heavy Industries
Berge Stahl carried Brazilian iron ore to Rotterdam for a quarter of a century as the world's largest bulk carrier, fully laden, only two ports on the planet could take her.
Derived metrics
Computed by ships.fyi from the core specification, see how we calculate these.
How big is it, really?
The Berge Stahl's length overall, against things you already know the size of.
The 747-8 held the longest-airliner record for over a decade, until Boeing's 777-9 took it by about 19 inches (76.72 m), our sibling site aircraft.fyi measures everything that flies the same way.
One Berge Stahl = 1.27 Titanics · 3.3 football pitches · 14 blue whales · 4.5 Boeing 747-8s laid end to end.
The numbers
| Length overall | 342.08 m |
|---|---|
| Beam | 63.5 m |
| Deadweight | 364,767 t |
| Draft (fully laden) | 23 m |
| Delivered | 1986 |
| Fate | Retired from service, 2021 |
Put the Berge Stahl next to something
Last verified: 2026-07-15 · Spot an error? business@luck.fyi
What makes it different
Berge Stahl spent twenty-five years as the largest bulk carrier in the world doing essentially one thing: hauling 350,000-tonne loads of iron ore from Brazil to Europe's blast furnaces, back and forth, like a planetary conveyor belt with a crew of thirty-three.
Fully laden she drew 23 metres, which meant exactly two ports on Earth could receive her: Ponta da Madeira in Brazil, where the ore was loaded, and Rotterdam's Maasvlakte, where it was discharged, and Rotterdam only at high tide, with centimetres under the keel. Her route was not a choice but a definition.
Built by Hyundai in 1986 for Norway's Bergesen group, she held her title until Vale's purpose-built Valemax fleet arrived in 2011, and was finally retired in 2021 after three and a half decades on the same run, one of the longest single-trade careers of any giant on this site.
The Berge Stahl line
One of one
Who operates the Berge Stahl
All 1 operator of record, verified 2026-07-15. Figures marked ≈ are approximate.
BBBerge BulkBergesen and successor Berge Bulk, on the Ponta da Madeira–Rotterdam iron ore shuttle for most of her life.1✓→