The World’s Largest Container Ship and Why the Ruling Elite’s Economic System Will Collapse

The inherent contradiction—and inevitable collapse—of the ruling elite’s financial model for the West has been exposed by a new study of the workings of the world’s largest container shipping fleet, owned by the A. P. Moller-Maersk Group.

The Emma Mærsk (illustrated) is one of eight giant container ships, first launched in 2006 and built in Denmark. They are the largest container ships ever built, and are wonders of modern technology and engineering.

All eight ships are the longest ships currently in used, and each one can carry around 11,000 Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). In May 2010, Emma’s sister ship, Ebba Mærsk, set a new world record of 15,011 TEU.

The Emma Mærsk set sail on her maiden voyage on 8 September 2006 at 02:00 hours from Aarhus in Denmark, and went to Singapore. From there she sailed to Yantian in Shenzhen, China, and from there to Kobe in Japan before finally returning to Aarhus little over eight weeks later, fully laden.

This ship also appeared in UK headlines briefly in November 2006, when she was dubbed “SS Santa” because she was bound for the United Kingdom from China loaded with Christmas goods.

The ships hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam, manned by a crew of 13. Their cruise speed is 31 knots and can cross the Pacific Ocean (their primary route) in just four days.

The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously and unload the entire ship in less than two hours.

But herein lies the rub: a recent study shows that on its return trip from the US or Europe, most of these containers are returned empty. This “international trade” is a strictly one-way affair.

According to a report in a leading American newspaper, out of every 100 containers that crossed the Pacific Ocean from Asia to North America last year, 60 came back empty.

The containers that did come back full were often transported at a steep discount for lack of demand. On European routes, 41 percent came back to Asia empty last year.

“Year after year, the gap gets wider and wider and wider,” Nick Hay, senior vice president at U.S. Lines, a California-based shipper, was quoted as saying in a reference to the shipping imbalance between North America and Asia. “It’s such a big issue. And there’s no end in sight.”

There are ships that arrive full in China, from countries like Brazil and Australia and from the Middle East. But these carry commodities like iron ore and coal.

A decade ago, container traffic across the Pacific was closer to equilibrium. For every 100 containers that crossed the Pacific to the United States, only 16 came back empty.

China announced recently that its surplus in its trade with the United States in 2005 came to $114.7 billion. U.S. government calculations, which are now being completed, put the number closer to $200 billion.

With the 25 countries of the European Union, China says its surplus was $70 billion, while EU figures put it at well over $125 billion.

The real meaning of the super container ships is that the industrial and manufacturing base of the West — which is a nation’s only real measure of progress, wealth and growth — has been gutted by the ruling elite’s financial model.

Simply put, a nation or a people which does not manufacture anything, is in economic decline. Africa is living testimony to this fact.

This is the grand flaw in the ruling elite’s master economic plan: eventually, disposable income in the West will dry up, and consumers will be unable to afford even the “cheap” goods from China.

Then the entire system will break down. It is, as the Marxists once said, a question of historical inevitability: not if, but when.