Original subtitles

Narrator: In south korea,

This elite team of marine engineers

Is embarking on an epic endeavor.

♪

They're attempting to build the biggest container ship

In the world.

Stretching over 1,300 feet long

And capable of carrying a colossal 23,000

Shipping containers,

They are pushing to complete this record-breaking vessel

In just 12 months.

To build this behemoth,

The team must battle massive loads...

[ laughs ]

Narrator: ...Terrifying heights...

...And punishing deadlines.

This ship ranks in a league

Of ambitious new engineering wonders

That are bigger, faster,

Taller, and more advanced

Than anything ever constructed before.

This is the inside story of the extraordinary challenge

Of building these giants.

♪

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪

Narrator: Every year, over 5,000 giant ships

Cross the world's oceans,

Stacked high with containers full of goods.

These monster vessels transport everything

From sports cars and computers

To soft toys and refrigerated foods.

Now global shipping giant msc

Is embarking on an ambitious $1.8 billion plan

To build a brand-new breed of super ship.

At the company's headquarters in sorrento, Italy,

Giuseppe gargiulo is in charge of overseeing

The construction of this fleet of mammoth ships.

There are very good reasons to build

This revolutionary new mega-fleet.

Vessels will be cheaper and more efficient to operate.

♪

This is the colossal ship the team must build.

Measuring over 1,300 feet in length,

It is longer than an aircraft carrier.

55,000 tons of metal panel make up its hull.

A single, giant 34-foot-wide propeller

Thrusts the ship forwards.

This is powered by a three-story, 2,700-ton engine

That produces a staggering 101,000 horsepower.

A revolutionary stacking system supports containers

Over 100 feet high above the deck.

It will transport 23,000 containers,

The most ever carried by one ship.

Building a ship this big will be a huge challenge.

The vessel's massive hull

Will push the limits of marine construction.

This fleet will include 11 ships in total.

The first of this new breed of mega-ship

Will be called the msc gulsun, meaning to smile.

This is how they'll do it.

♪

Engineers plan to construct the colossal ship in sections

Which they weld together,

Expanding the ship piece by piece.

♪

Next, they lift in the giant 2,700-ton engine.

It's too large to install in one piece,

So they split it into four parts,

Then bolt it back together once it's positioned within the ship.

The team attaches the mighty 34-foot propeller

To the prop shaft with a metal cap.

Finally, they bolt on 27 50-foot-high steel supports

To hold up the ship's 13-high stack of containers.

With these in place, the largest container ship

The world has ever seen is ready to set sail.

♪

To undertake this mammoth build,

Giuseppe's team is working with marine engineers in south korea.

This shipyard on the island of geoje

Is one of the largest maritime construction sites in the world.

♪

It sprawls across an area of 988 acres...

♪

...Employs 10,000 staff,

And even has its own bus service.

The team here has to build the gigantic msc gulsun

In just one year.

♪

Work starts inside this cavernous

410,000-square-foot workshop.

The team build the ship piece by piece

Out of 300 enormous sections called blocks.

To make these, their first challenge is to create vast

72-by-26-foot rectangular steel sheets.

Overseeing the assembly is jim man kim.

He starts with the largest steel sheets available.

But to make this side of the first giant block,

They must weld four sheets together.

To do this marathon job, mr. Kim uses

A robotic submerged arc welder.

♪

It operates 30 times faster than a human worker.

The machine feeds wire into the joint,

Then uses an electric current

To superheat the metal, melting it.

This forms an ultra-strong bond.

Yeah, so...

♪

Narrator: The welds are complete.

This sheet of steel is now in one huge 72-by-26-foot piece.

♪

Next...

Kim's team uses the expansive sheet of metal

To form a block.

Once complete, they transport the block to the quayside,

Where they weld it together with four other blocks

Like a giant metal jigsaw.

This is called a mega block, a colossal slice of the ship.

Workers then lower the 67 mega blocks into the dry dock,

Starting with its keel.

They must place this mega block in exactly the right position

To make sure the rest of the ship is true.

♪

It takes 5 months to complete the first mega block.

It weighs a massive 923 tons.

Now the team must move it to the dock,

Where they will assemble all 67 mega blocks

That make up the ship.

But it's over 1,500 feet from its destination.

This perilous journey will test both humans and machines.

♪

Narrator: At this mega shipyard in south korea,

Workers are in a race

To build the world's biggest container ship.

They've completed the first 923-ton steel mega block

That will form part of the ship's hull.

Now they must transport it over 1,500 feet

And lower it into this enormous dry dock

Where the vessel will be assembled.

♪

An ordinary crane stands no chance of moving

And lifting such a massive load,

So they plan to use this --

The goliath gantry crane.

It soars 300 feet high

And is capable of lifting

And transporting almost 1,000 tons.

The man in charge of this colossal machine

Is chang-ho baek.

[ beeping ]

He works 80 floors up from this office in the sky,

And takes great pride in his role at the yard.

Given mr. Baek's 25 years of experience,

He understands the gravity of lifting such a heavy mega block.

16 cables secure the keel to the crane.

[ speaks korean ]

Narrator: They soon have liftoff.

[ whirring ]

Mr. Baek's crane has wheels that run on tracks

That line the dockside.

But guiding this giant block

Through the bustling people and machinery

To reach the dry dock won't be easy.

It will take mr. Baek 30 minutes

To slowly move the mega block into position.

Halfway into the 1,500-foot journey,

He runs into trouble.

[ beeping, alarm wailing ]

[ murmurs ]

Narrator: This stationary crane blocks his path.

He needs to carefully raise and slide the block

To maneuver it around this obstacle.

♪

It takes mr. Baek five precarious minutes

To slalom the block through the obstacle course.

♪

The mega block hovers 50 feet above the drop zone

On the dry dock floor.

Now mr. Baek faces the toughest stage of the whole move.

He must lower the 200-foot-wide block down

So it lands in precisely the right spot.

Getting this wrong could misalign the rest

Of the nearly 1,300-foot-long ship.

The team down in the dock must act as mr. Baek's eyes

On the ground...

[ speaks korean ] ...Using radios to guide him

So the block lands smoothly on these supports.

♪

[ metal thuds ]

They hit the target perfectly.

It's a big milestone.

[ speaking korean ]

[ applause ]

But time is of the essence.

In 12 weeks, this dry dock will be flooded

With more than 150 million gallons of water,

And the ship must be watertight and ready to float.

This is the plan for the next stage of the build.

With the 67 pre-built mega blocks in place,

The team will weld them together.

[ crackling ]

[ thud ]

They'll carefully lift each mega block into position

And then fuse them together one by one.

The ship grows section by section...

[ clanking, crackling ]

...Until the gargantuan hull is complete.

♪

It takes 4 weeks for the team to assemble

30 of the mega blocks that make up the body of the vessel.

Now, halfway through the yearlong build,

Hull supervisor duk-gun kim works with dy yang

To undertake a series of critical checks

On a vital part of the ship called the ballast tanks.

Surprisingly, these sections of the hull must keep water in

Instead of keeping it out.

The ballast tanks are essential for this giant ship

To remain upright at port.

♪

Container ships usually visit several ports on each journey,

Loading and unloading only part of their cargo at each stop.

This can make the load uneven and unbalance the ship.

The 34 ballast tanks inside the ship's hull

Are designed to counteract this disaster.

As the ship becomes unstable,

A pump transfers water between the vast ballast tanks

Positioned on either side.

The weight of the water counteracts

The uneven weight of the containers,

Keeping the ship level.

This ingenious system frees dock workers to load

And unload cargo without capsizing the ship.

At least, that's the plan.

♪

Now they have to turn it into a reality.

Any faults could cause this mammoth ship to sink.

♪

♪

Narrator: In south korea, a team of engineers

Is building the biggest container ship in the world.

Hull supervisors dg kim and dy yang

Are making sure that the ballast tanks,

Vast containers for water

That stabilize the ship, are sealed tight.

To do this, they perform a simple but effective test.

They pump pressurized air into a finished tank

And cover the welds in soapy water.

♪

Any air escaping through holes

Would cause large expanding bubbles to appear.

They check every single one of the 95-foot-long tank welds.

♪

This tank is sealed tight

And ready to help the ship stay afloat.

But with 33 more tanks to check, kim and yang

Still have a big job ahead of them.

♪

It's 7 months into the yearlong build.

All 67 mega blocks of the ship's hull

Are now welded tight.

A ship this big needs a power source to match,

And the msc gulsun's engine

Is one of the biggest in the world.

♪

This is the man g95 diesel engine.

This enormous engine has more than 100,000 horsepower,

The equivalent to over 100 nascar race cars.

♪

The ship's engine is a giant in its own right,

Weighing 2,700 tons.

It's so big, workers can't install it all at once.

To solve this problem,

Engineers must break it down into four interlocking parts.

They lift in the two sections that make up the engine's base.

Next, they install the huge middle section

That contains the frame box

That keeps the engine's components together.

Finally, they bolt on the top section,

Capping the engine's supersized 17-foot-long cylinders.

They must connect each part perfectly.

Even a slight misalignment could create dangerous vibrations

When the engine is running.

♪

It's the day of the engine's big move.

In charge of preparations is engine supervisor jung-woo shin.

♪

First, workers place the 550-ton

Rear section of the engine base,

Then quickly install the front section.

♪

[ rattling ]

They lock it together, forming a solid foundation.

♪

♪

But the next section of engine

Is twice the size of the last.

And in a build this complicated,

Every inch counts.

[ shouting in korean ]

[ clangs ]

♪

Narrator: At this shipyard in south korea,

Workers are racing to build

The largest container ship in the world.

They've moved the base of its 2,700-ton engine into position.

Today, they must lift

The enormous middle section of the engine.

♪

7:30 a.M. --

Before the rigors of ship-building can start...

[ speaking korean ]

[ all clap ]

...The yard workers participate in morning exercises.

[ speaking korean ]

[ speaking korean, clapping ]

♪

Narrator: This section of engine

Is 75 feet long and must be moved in one piece.

It will be a tight squeeze

Guiding this enormous engine section down

Through the interior of the ship,

Where builders are still constructing the engine room.

The massive engine glides down into the belly of the ship,

With just inches to spare on either side.

♪

But 10 feet from touchdown...

[ shouting in korean ]

Narrator: ...These scaffolding support bars

Block the engine's descent.

The 595-ton middle section is stuck in midair.

If they try to force it down now,

They could damage the engine, putting the build back weeks.

[ man speaks korean ]

Narrator: Workers scramble to remove the blockage.

They cut the scaffolding bars

And bend them away from the engine's path.

The move is back on.

♪

Down it goes...

♪

[ clangs ]

...Safe and in one piece.

♪

Installing the ship's engine is a big milestone for the team.

♪

♪

But the engine alone will not make this mega ship move.

The linchpin of any great vessel is its propeller.

The propeller on this ship will be one of the world's biggest.

Its design is overseen here in sorrento, Italy.

The more efficient the propeller,

The less fuel the ship will use.

But with such a big engine turning it,

The propeller must be tough enough to withstand

Monumental forces.

♪

Giuseppe's team has designed a totally unique propeller.

He has given it six blades instead of the conventional five

To reduce the amount of stress on each blade as it turns.

[ creaking, rumbling ]

This means he can lengthen each blade to 17 feet

To make the propeller much more powerful.

Finally, they fine-tune the shape,

Thickness, and angle of the blades,

Maximizing their efficiency and power.

This one-of-a-kind propeller will quickly and efficiently

Drive the 70,000-ton mega ship around the world

For the next 30 years.

Building such a huge propeller will be no simple task.

Giuseppe works with the world's leading propeller foundry,

Mecklenburger metallguss, in germany.

Their managing director is lars greitsch.

Lars' team will cast this giant propeller

As one massive piece of metal.

To build this $880,000 propeller,

Lars' team must first fabricate this 40-foot concrete mold.

Next, the team takes an entire night

To heat a mixture of copper, aluminum, nickel, and iron

To 2,000 degrees.

This makes bronze.

The metal alloy will make the propeller strong

And resistant to corrosive seawater.

They move the bronze into position,

Ready for the big pour into the concrete mold.

This is the most critical moment for any propeller.

Narrator: In germany,

Engineers are casting the mammoth propeller

That will power the biggest container ship in the world.

♪

Lars' team must fill the mold in one continuous pour.

If they stop at any point,

The impurities floating on top of the molten bronze

Could become trapped in the interior of the propeller

And cause structural weakness.

♪

It takes 15 minutes to fill the mold

In one intensive nonstop pour.

The team must now wait one week for the metal to cool.

♪

The raw cast propeller spans a vast 34 feet wide.

The team must now shape its blades

To precisely match giuseppe's designs.

To do this, they use a special

Robotically aided grinding machine.

[ whirring ]

♪

It takes weeks to shape and polish the blades.

They then ship the completed propeller

More than 5,000 miles to south korea.

♪

With the massive propeller on-site, the team in south korea

Must now position it onto the ship's prop shaft.

With a tolerance of just a fraction of an inch

To work with,

This is an incredibly challenging operation.

To install the giant 129-ton propeller,

The team must first carefully crane it into position

And slide the prop shaft through the hole in the propeller.

Engineers then use powerful hydraulic pumps

To force the propeller even further back towards the ship.

The fit is so tight that the force of friction alone

Locks the propeller into place.

Finally, with the propeller secured,

The team seals it in position with a 2.7-ton,

6 1/2-foot wide cap.

With the propeller safely on the shaft,

Now the team must lock it tightly into place.

This is a key moment in the build...

Twenty-one. Twenty-one.

Twenty-one.

Narrator: ...That's overseen by expert engineer jessica brun.

Jessica works for an international organization

That monitors the quality of ship manufacturing.

It's her job to sign off on vital parts of the build.

[ speaking korean ]

Narrator: This record-breaking vessel

Can't leave the shipyard without jessica's approval.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: The team uses giant hydraulic pumps

To push the propeller up the shaft.

Once the propeller is locked, it will not move on the shaft.

They use a micrometer to check the propeller's position.

...81, huh? Yeah, yeah.

...81. Yeah.

Narrator: The mighty 129-ton propeller

Is in position and locked tight.

Jessica can sign it off as seaworthy.

♪

Narrator: With the engine and propeller in position,

The team faces one final major construction challenge.

They must build the complex system of beams

And supports that holds the containers in position.

♪

This mega ship will hold a record-breaking

23,000 containers.

♪

Below deck, the ship will carry

9,788 in stacks 12 high.

♪

But the real difference lies above deck.

Here, superstrong steel frames

Called lashing bridges span the hull.

These have special fixtures called lashing rods

To secure stacks of containers that soar 13 stories high.

[ creaking ]

♪

That's two stories taller than on most other container ships.

♪

Today, a new delivery of lashing bridges

Arrives on-site from the factory 25 miles away.

The msc gulsun will have 27 rows of lashing bridges.

Each weighs 132 tons.

The team must install these bridges

Onto a 100-foot-high platform.

♪

Narrator: In south korea,

Workers race to build the world's biggest container ship.

They've completed the hull and installed the propeller.

Now, they must fit the lashing bridges

That secure the containers to the ship.

They tower 50 feet tall and are 200 feet wide.

Mr. Yong-wan chung is gearing up to install bridge number eight.

The team must stand on this narrow platform

To guide it down into position.

Any miscalculation could end in disaster.

So the team uses harnesses and clips on to safety lines.

The mighty 300-foot-high goliath gantry crane

Takes the weight of bridge number eight.

To make this precarious challenge even more difficult,

The team must guide this 132-ton chunk of metal

Into position by hand.

♪

After a dizzying descent...

♪

...The bridge is down. [ clanks ]

♪

Chung's team welds the lashing bridge in place

And secures it for the life of the vessel.

♪

After 12 weeks of intense construction,

The hull, engine, and deck are all complete.

♪

Now the moment of truth for the build team --

Will the ship float?

The team plans to flood the dry dock with water

At 12:30 a.M. To launch the vessel.

As night falls, the tension is palpable

For vessel supervisor byump-cheol jung.

[ laughs ]

♪

Narrator: With water set to flood the dock,

Every weld must be sealed tight, and the ship must be balanced,

Or after nearly a year of grueling work,

This ship won't be deemed seaworthy.

♪

This is the crucial moment

They've been working towards for 3 months.

♪

The pumps open,

And the dry dock fills

With over 150 million gallons of seawater.

♪

With a nerve-racking wobble,

In just 4 hours,

The ship lifts up

Off its supports.

♪

♪

Day breaks to reveal that the massive ship floats,

No leaks, no damage.

♪

It's a huge moment for the entire team.

After a long night, bc jung is tired but happy.

...The floating. Actually...

♪

It takes a fleet of three tugboats to carefully guide

The 60,000-ton ship out of the dry dock

To a special quay where the team can add the finishing touches.

♪

Over the next 4 months, the teams build and install

The ship's innovative exhaust system...

♪

...The bridge...

The living accommodations for the crew,

And wire it up with more than 222 miles of electrical cabling.

They complete this work 12 days ahead of schedule.

♪

In just under 12 months,

The team has built the world's largest container ship.

Hello, morning. How are you?

Giuseppe gargiulo has traveled from Italy

For a well-earned celebration,

And to officially name the ship

The msc gulsun, meaning "to smile."

[ applause ]

Narrator: The msc gulsun sets off,

Bound for eastern china,

Where it will receive its first load of containers,

Traveling more than 3 million miles over her life span.

Ten more ships just like her

Will be delivered in the next year

Carrying over a quarter of a million containers

Between them,

Transporting the world's goods as efficiently as possible.