An unusual vessel named Fan Zhou 8 has attracted attention across the shipping industry after transporting more than 3,000 TEU of containers from China on its vast open deck.
According to Alphaliner, German independent carrier Carrier53’ Shipping chartered the 2024-built vessel, with a deadweight of 58,405 tonnes, from Chinese company Jiangsu Fanzhou Shipping.
Loading took place in September at the port of Taicang, near Shanghai.
The vessel loaded 1,558 40-foot High-Cube containers, equivalent to approximately 3,116 TEU.
All containers were positioned on the vessel’s huge open deck, measuring around 256 metres long and 51 metres wide.
The unobstructed deck area is roughly comparable to almost two football pitches, giving the vessel substantial flexibility for oversized and unconventional cargoes.
The containers were arranged across 17 bays and 20 rows, with stacks reaching five tiers in most areas. On the outermost rows, stack height was limited to two tiers.
Alphaliner describes Fan Zhou 8 as one of the world’s largest heavy-lift vessels, a ship type rarely used for container transport on this scale.
The voyage was arranged in cooperation with container trader Lotus Containers.
Carrier53’ Shipping specialises in unconventional cargo movements, including 53-foot containers manufactured in China for the North American market.
These oversized units can be challenging for traditional liner operators because of their dimensions and limited compatibility with standard container ship layouts.
After completing loading, Fan Zhou 8 headed toward the Red Sea, although its final destination was not publicly disclosed.
In its latest weekly report, Alphaliner also highlighted another unusual vessel, Tiger Maanshan, with a capacity of 1,480 TEU, which recently reached Felixstowe and Rotterdam after sailing from China via the Northern Sea Route.
Unlike Fan Zhou 8, however, Tiger Maanshan was purpose-designed to carry specialised container cargoes, including LNG tank containers.
The Fan Zhou 8 voyage demonstrates how heavy-lift vessels can be used as an alternative to conventional container ships for moving large volumes of non-standard containerised cargo.
