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World's largest ship swallows 900 MEGATINS of baked beans

CSCL Globe as long as 8 Olympic swimming pools - BBC

The BBC is having an Olympic swimming pool-sized field day at the news that the world's largest ship – the CSCL Globe - has docked at the Port of Felixstowe.

According to Auntie, the China Shipping Container Lines-owned behemoth "is more than 400m (1,312ft) long, the equivalent of eight Olympic-size swimming pools", while its gross tonnage is "186,000 - the equivalent of 14,500 London buses".

The Corporation continues: "It can carry 19,100 standard 20ft containers. That's estimated to be enough space for 156 million pairs of shoes, 300 million tablet computers or 900 million standard tins of baked beans.

"Laid end-to-end, the maximum number of containers on board would stretch for 72 miles, the distance between Felixstowe and London, or Birmingham and Manchester."

Interestingly, we've calculated that 156 million pairs of shoes would be sufficient to satisfy the demands of 20,433 Imelda Marcoses, and if laid heel-to-toe would stretch a mind-boggling 93,600km, or a slightly over-the-odds mileage on a second-hand 2008 Vauxhall Astra.

Alternatively, imagine 376 brontosauruses standing head-to-tail or 5,640 bumper-to-bumper double-decker buses and you've got some idea of just how far that many shoes would extend over the horizon.

While you get your heads round that, consider, if you will, the CSCL Globe's massive two-stroke engine, which the Beeb helpfully explains "operates” at 56.8 megawatts. This, it helpfully quantifies, is "the equivalent of almost 38,000 1,500-watt vacuum cleaners". ®

Bootnote

Thanks to reader Andy Green for the mammoth heads-up.

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