The world's largest container vessel, the CSCL Globe, set off Monday on its maiden voyage to Europe from Shanghai, ship owner China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) said.
The giant 400-meter long, 60-meter wide vessel sailed from the eastern Chinese city's Yangshan port, the company said.
The vessel is the first of five 19,100-TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) container ships that CSCL ordered in 2013 from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries and was delivered in November, according to CSCL.
It is the world's "biggest and most advanced" container ship, outstripping international shipping firm Maersk Line's 18,000-TEU ship in terms of capacity, the firm said, calling it the "A380 of the shipping industry" in a reference to the giant Airbus passenger jet.
If stacked end to end, the 19,100 standard containers it can carry would be more than five times the height of Mount Everest, the statement said.
China's official Xinhua news agency said the vessel is more energy-efficient and produces fewer emissions than ordinary 10,000-TEU containers, adding that it can carry about 200 million tablet computers at a time.
CSCL earlier released images of the ship docked in the northern port cities of Tianjin and Qingdao last week, where ceremonies were held to mark the ship going into service for CSCL's Far East-Europe line.
The ship will stop in other ports including Ningbo in eastern China and Singapore before arriving in Europe, state media previously reported.
CSCL, the listed arm of global container liner service provider China Shipping Group, jumped 4.82% to 3.70 yuan ($0.60) in Shanghai trading on Monday. Its shares gained 1.33% to HK$2.29 ($0.30) in Hong Kong, where it is also listed.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
