World's Top 5 S01E04
Category
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CreativityTranscript
00:00At any given time, 50,000 ships are leaving ports around the globe, transporting millions
00:11of passengers and 90% of the world's trade.
00:18They're one of the oldest forms of man-made transport.
00:22But what makes the very top world beater?
00:25We put these ocean-going marvels under the spotlight.
00:30Which ship is the fastest?
00:31Nuclear power gives the aircraft carrier virtually unlimited high-speed endurance.
00:36Can carry the most cargo?
00:38If the loading goes wrong, then the consequences will be damage, delays, a lot of money going
00:44down the drain.
00:45Which ship transports more passengers or has the most powerful engine?
00:50If you think of the propeller, approximately 10 meters in diameter, it's amazing.
00:57In our search for the ultimate giants of engineering genius, we go on a global search.
01:03Testing, analyzing, rating, to establish the best of the best.
01:08The world's ultimate mega-ship.
01:13From among the world's most incredible sea-going vessels...
01:17There are around 55,000 different ships in the world.
01:20For all manner of purposes, how are we going to pick the best one?
01:25We've shortlisted five mega-ships for scrutiny.
01:30The TI Europe, the Korean-built double-hulled super-tanker.
01:35The USS G.H.W. Bush, pride of America's naval fleet.
01:41The mighty Servant, the mega-lifter from Holland.
01:46The Eber-Mersk, Denmark's globe-trotting container giant.
01:51The Finnish-built Allure of the Seas, the largest passenger liner ever built.
01:58Five outstanding super-ships that have pushed maritime design to the limit.
02:04Judging their performance across five key tests, for the first time, we reveal the world's
02:10ultimate mega-ship.
02:12Things you wouldn't imagine were possible, yet somehow, they do it.
02:17It's time to weigh anchor and navigate our five mega-ships onto the high seas, as we
02:22put them to the test in our first category, sink depth.
02:27Just how far can our ships' hulls safely submerge before they capsize?
02:33Splashing into fifth position, the world's largest cruise ship, with a sink depth of
02:38a paltry 9.1 metres.
02:41This titan of the seas may be top-heavy, but its U-shaped hull means its weight is evenly
02:46distributed.
02:47Because the Allure of the Seas is 47 metres wide, it's really stable in the water.
02:53Great news if you're prone to seasickness.
02:56Floating into fourth, the pride of the U.S. fleet, the G.H.W. Bush.
03:01Its bulbous bow provides extra buoyancy, making it stable enough for planes to take off and
03:07land every 25 seconds.
03:10The G.H.W. Bush manages to displace 97,000 tonnes of water, but because of its shallow
03:16sink depth, it's incredibly stable, which is kind of handy when you're trying to land
03:20an aeroplane on it.
03:24Bobbing into third, it's the world's largest container ship, the Eber Mursk.
03:29With a sink depth of 15.5 metres, it can carry an incredible 15,000 containers.
03:38This massive ship carries the equivalent of 310 million wine bottles.
03:45Plumbing the depths in second place, the blindingly white T.I.
03:50Europe.
03:51With a sink depth of 24 metres, the supertanker's double-skinned hold contains 21 tanks, each
03:58one the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
04:00The T.I.
04:01Europe can only pass through the Suez Canal when empty.
04:05When it's fully loaded, it has to go via South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, which makes
04:10the journey one week longer.
04:13But taking first place, with a sink depth of 26 metres, the only ship designed to sink
04:20like a stone and then right itself, it's the floating megalifter that is the Mighty Servant.
04:27The Mighty Servant is incredible because it sinks its loading deck by filling its ballast
04:31tanks with seawater at a rate of 2,000 metres cubed an hour.
04:37Time to take a trip aboard the world's largest semi-submersible.
04:48Fifty kilometres off the coast of China, a colossus is anchored.
04:53The Mighty Servant 1 is preparing for one of its toughest missions, the transportation
04:59of a 34,000-tonne offshore oil drill, the Seven Brazil, to be delivered to Rio de Janeiro
05:06over 18,000 kilometres away.
05:11It is a highly complex, multi-million-dollar operation that will push the vessel to its
05:16limit.
05:21Eric van Empel is a loading project superintendent.
05:25He's flown in especially from Africa to make sure the operation goes to plan.
05:30It's big and can be intimidating.
05:33If the loading goes wrong, then the consequences will be damage, delays, a lot of expenses,
05:40a lot of money going down the drain.
05:43You can be nervous and there is some stress involved.
05:47Beneath the ship's 7,500-square-metre deck are 44 huge ballast tanks.
05:58At the flick of a switch, they will fill with seawater, submerging over two-thirds of the
06:03ship.
06:04You can see the draft marks, and we will go down to 21 metres.
06:10The water level will be on 21 here, and the same on the stern.
06:18Submersion and loading can only take place in perfect conditions.
06:22Even the slightest swell can create dangerous movement of the vessel and cargo, putting
06:27both at severe risk of sinking.
06:30But the weather has closed in, and the wind speeds are dangerously high.
06:39For now, it's out of the question.
06:41Very frustrating.
06:42Everybody wants to get it done, and, yeah, that's the kind of moments you have to avoid
06:46taking unacceptable risks.
06:48Every day wasted costs the owners of the 7 Brazil $85,000.
06:54The pressure on Eric is immense.
06:57Everybody's eager to do the loadout.
06:58The client is especially eager to do the loadout because they're on a schedule, but we're not
07:02going to have schedules force us into making any damage, so we're not going to go ahead
07:07with it.
07:08Later that night, the weather forecast has improved, and Eric finally gives the go-ahead
07:14to submerge.
07:16On the bridge, the chief officer begins to flood the ballast tanks.
07:22This is where the mighty servant is at its most vulnerable.
07:27Its ballast tanks must be filled in a strict order, with exact precision, or the ship could
07:33sink.
07:35It takes six hours for the mighty servant to reach its loading draft of 21 meters below
07:40the waterline.
07:42Fully submerged, the giant ship is now stable, her ballast tanks filled precisely to ensure
07:49she remains completely level.
07:53But despite the forecast, the weather hasn't improved.
07:56The operation must once again be delayed.
07:59We just need to wait and see if the wind comes down any further.
08:03Eric, do you want us to stop the operation?
08:07For now, we just stand by and wait for the weather.
08:14It's been four days since Eric arrived on board the mighty servant, and finally there's
08:19a break in the weather.
08:21Conditions have really improved overnight.
08:25So the rig is starting to move into position off of our starboard side, and it looks pretty
08:29much like we will be able to go ahead today.
08:36With the weather once again closing in, Eric knows this could be his last chance for some
08:41time.
08:42He leaves the giant semi-submersible to coordinate the loading operation from the deck of the
08:47Seven Brazil.
08:49Four tugs slowly maneuver the huge oil drill towards the mighty servant.
08:55It takes 30 minutes for the Seven Brazil to be towed the 500 meters into position.
09:04But this is the easy bit.
09:06Once the enormous cargo is alongside, the most dangerous part of the operation begins.
09:18Meter by centimeter, the Seven Brazil is painstakingly eased into position.
09:26Everything is done by eye.
09:29If the Seven Brazil is only 12 centimeters off its target location, it could prove catastrophic
09:36to both vessels.
09:37Start slowly to slack number one.
09:3810 centimeters to starboard.
09:40After 50 nail-biting minutes, the huge oil drill is in place and on the wooden deck cribbing.
09:55OK, all stopped.
09:56Congratulations, guys.
09:57Good job.
09:58That's a relief.
09:59We managed to do it.
10:00We had a few minor setbacks, but everything turned out fine.
10:07Well done by everyone.
10:09Now the mighty servant's ballast tanks are emptied, forcing out the seawater to make
10:14the deck surface again.
10:18This process takes eight hours.
10:22No one can be sure the loading has been a complete success until the deck is above the
10:26waterline and there's no visible damage.
10:32The de-ballasting almost complete and Eric is already on deck, and it looks like good
10:38news.
10:39This is the best we could have done.
10:42We couldn't have done it any better.
10:45The next challenge for the mighty servant, negotiating the open ocean to deliver its
10:50cargo safely and on time.
10:53Next stop, Brazil.
10:59What amazes me most about the mighty servant is here's a ship out at sea that purposefully
11:03sinks itself.
11:05It's pretty much indicative of the whole offshore industry.
11:08Things you wouldn't imagine were possible, yet somehow they do it.
11:13Coming up, how will our five mega ships measure up when we put them to a test in which size
11:18is everything?
11:29Five mega ships, but which is the world's best?
11:33Pitting five nautical masterpieces against each other in five key categories will reveal
11:39the ultimate winner.
11:43The mighty servant won our first category, but how will it fare in our next?
11:48Length.
11:50Drifting from pole position into fifth place, it's the mighty servant.
11:55With a length of 190 meters, the world's largest semi-submersible can sink and re-float
12:02with just the flick of a switch.
12:05Mighty servant might be the shortest of our five ships, but its deck space is still seven
12:10and a half thousand square meters.
12:12That's enough to park 200 double-decker buses.
12:15In fourth, it's the US Navy's flagship warrior, the GHW Bush.
12:21At over 330 meters long, its flight deck can hold up to 70 military aircraft, but when
12:27it comes to length, it falls short of victory in this battle.
12:31At peak operation, say, in a war situation, you've got fighter planes landing on its 120
12:37meter long runway at 241 kilometers an hour every 25 seconds.
12:44Sailing into third place, it's the incredible floating city, the allure of the seas.
12:50At 360 meters long, its upper deck features a scale replica of Central Park, complete
12:55with 56 trees and a golf course.
12:59This ship has 21 swimming pools and jacuzzis.
13:01I mean, that's over 2.3 thousand tons of water.
13:05That's enough water to actually sink most other ships.
13:08Edging into second by a nose, it's the double-hulled super tanker, the Tiura.
13:14At 379 meters long, its length is the equivalent of four American football pitches.
13:21The Tiura is so big, it can't even fit into its home port in Antwerp.
13:27But winning the category by clear water, it's the world's biggest container ship.
13:32At an incredible 398 meters in length, the Dutch Evermersch is the longest vessel in
13:38the world.
13:39It travels the equivalent distance of 7.5 times around the earth every year.
13:47Let's take a look at the ship designed to transport everything from household goods
13:52to circus animals.
13:5511 a.m. and the Danish-built and owned Evermersch is entering the German port of Bremerhaven.
14:05Today the ship will be loaded for a 77-day round-trip from Europe to the Far East, Hong
14:11Kong and Singapore.
14:14It's a tight schedule with Antwerp its first stop in just 52 hours' time.
14:23Taking the ship's helm is Captain Niels Vestergaard Pedersen.
14:28With 30 years' experience, he knows that any delays to the loading will have costly and
14:34far-reaching consequences.
14:37It's important for me to be on schedule, be on time in all ports, because if I'm delayed,
14:44it will affect many ships, customers, trains, many persons.
14:51At almost a third of a kilometer long, this marvel of the seas has shipped pretty much
14:56everything around the world, from games consoles to live animals.
15:03Ensuring the vessel is loaded and offloaded on time is Chief Officer René Hansen.
15:09The operation in Bremerhaven is planned to be around 2,200 containers, 1,200 to be discharged
15:16and 1,000 to be loaded.
15:19And in Antwerp, the vessel needs to dock on high tide.
15:23And if we miss the high tide in Antwerp, then there will be 12 hours for the next high tide.
15:27So that will give us a 12-hour delay in arrival in Antwerp, which again will give us 12 hours'
15:33delay in the whole operation.
15:34So it is very important that the operation runs and that we complete on time.
15:41Twenty-four hours after arriving in Bremerhaven, and the Eber Mersk is loaded and ready to
15:46depart.
15:47We have just received the final plan.
15:50With this, I can see now that we have loaded a total of 66,303 tons of cargo.
15:56That is the combined weight of all our cargo.
16:01An anchor weighing 29 tons, the equivalent of seven male African elephants, is hauled
16:06from the seabed.
16:10On the bridge, Captain Niels skillfully manoeuvres the vast Eber Mersk out of port into the North
16:16Sea.
16:17Over the next 24 hours, the captain and his 22-man crew will be working round the clock
16:23to ensure the giant container ship arrives in Antwerp in time for high tide.
16:29When people see the container ship, they see that there's a lot of containers on the
16:33deck of the ship, and they say, oh, this is a really heavy-loaded container ship.
16:37What actually most people don't know is that we carry more than 60 percent of the total
16:41load in the cargo hold.
16:45Each year, the Eber travels 170,000 nautical miles.
16:51To cover such incredible distances, it needed a power plant of epic proportions.
16:59The engine of choice was the Finnish-designed Wärtsilä-Salza diesel engine, weighing 2,086
17:06tons.
17:09Chief Engineer Klaus Hansen is the man responsible for keeping the engine running, and he's very
17:14aware that any mechanical issues could put the ship's already tight schedule in jeopardy.
17:20This is the biggest engine in the world.
17:23If you compare it to a conventional diesel engine in your car at home, it has maybe 100
17:29horsepower, but this has 100,000 horsepower.
17:34So there's a lot of power in this engine here.
17:39Delivering the Eber-Mersk's crucial horsepower is a crankshaft weighing 300 tons.
17:46At the moment, we are at the base of the engine room, and here we have the crankshaft,
17:54which is turning the propeller shaft.
17:59It is enormous, yes.
18:02The maximum speed on the main engine is 102 rpm.
18:08It doesn't sound like much, but if you think of the propeller, that is approximately 10
18:14meters in diameter, then you can imagine how fast this diameter is spinning.
18:20So there's a lot of power in this.
18:25On the open ocean, the Eber-Mersk can reach speeds of 25.5 knots, almost 50 kilometers
18:31an hour, and burns a whopping 26,614 liters of diesel.
18:37We refuel the ship every time we come to Rotterdam, and from one round trip, which is 11 weeks,
18:43we use approximately 8,000 tons of fuel.
18:50To help reduce the ship's almighty thirst, the Eber has been fitted with a waste heat
18:54recovery system.
18:57This ingenious system captures escaping heat and pressure from the engine's exhaust gases
19:02to create extra mechanical energy for propulsion, in turn saving fuel and reducing the ship's
19:09CO2 footprint.
19:204 p.m. and the vessel is approaching the port of Antwerp on time.
19:25It's a successful mission for Captain Niels and his crew, but a rest is out of the question,
19:30as another 1,725 containers need to be loaded in the next 24 hours.
19:37The trip will be better than successful.
19:39We arrived with a lot of cargo, right on schedule, and tomorrow we depart for Spain.
19:46When the operation is completed and the ship undocks into the sea, that is the biggest
19:53victory, and you get this success several times a week.
19:58I love this job, it's the best thing for me.
20:02The engine of the Ebermersk is so massive, 30 metres high by 30, that's 30 metres long,
20:11that it had to be installed first and then the rest of the ship was constructed around it.
20:18Coming up, it's throttles to maximum as we determine which of our megaships is the powerhouse
20:24of the high seas.
20:32Five world-beating megaships assessed on their key attributes.
20:39The mind-blowingly colossal container ship, the encapsulation of American naval pride,
20:46the mighty marine mega-muscle, this titan amongst oil tankers, and the world's largest
20:54ever cruise liner.
20:57Each is put to the test and rated in five key categories.
21:01Right now, the TI Europe and the Ebermersk are steaming side by side at the head of our
21:07countdown convoy.
21:09But will they be able to hold station as we turn the spotlight on to engine power?
21:19In fifth, steady as she goes for our gargantuan heavy lifter, the mighty Servant.
21:27Two diesel engines with a combined output of 13 megawatts turn two propellers.
21:33Fully loaded, this heavy lifting semi-submersible lumbers across the open ocean at a safe 14 knots.
21:42The mighty Servant's got a fantastic fail-safe.
21:45Essentially, if it sinks, you can just pump the seawater out and it bobs back up to the top again.
21:50How good's that?
21:53Chugging into fourth place, the world's biggest oil tanker, the TI Europe.
21:58With its engine producing 37.4 megawatts, it has the same thrust as six Boeing 747s.
22:07Stomping power.
22:10Sailing into third, with 80 megawatts at its disposal, the world's largest container ship,
22:16the Ebermersk.
22:18Its diesel engine may be the size of a five-story house, but an ingenious waste heat recovery system
22:24cuts its fuel bills by 10%.
22:27The hull of the Ebermersk is painted in silicon, which actually makes it glide through the water
22:32so much more efficiently, which means it can cut the amount of fuel that it uses by 1,200 tonnes every year.
22:40In second, it's the world's largest cruise liner, the Allure of the Seas.
22:46Powered by six massive engines producing 98 megawatts, the Allure is not only vast,
22:52but it's quick, with a top speed of 22 knots.
22:56If you want to build your own Allure of the Seas, you've got to start with over half a million individual steel bits,
23:01you then put those together into 181 bigger bits, and then you put all of those together into a giant ship.
23:07And that would take one person about 8,000 years to do.
23:12But the undisputed powerhouse in our fearsome flotilla is the USS G.H.W. Bush.
23:19194 megawatts is indeed mega.
23:24This cutting-edge aircraft carrier is powered not just by eight standard diesel engines,
23:29but also by two nuclear reactors.
23:33They use the seawater to generate steam, which then drives the turbines.
23:37Now, powering the ship in this way means it can sail unaided for 20 years.
23:42Let's take a closer look as we're piped on board the pride of the U.S. Navy.
23:518 a.m. at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on America's eastern seaboard.
23:57Today, the U.S. Navy's latest supercarrier is in dock after a six-month mission in the Persian Gulf.
24:05Costing $6.2 billion, this floating fortress can transport an army of 6,000 personnel,
24:13complete with a deadly arsenal of weaponry to any corner of the globe.
24:19Once it's left port, those on board need to be prepared for every eventuality.
24:26Let's go! Let's go, team leader!
24:28Fire is the biggest threat.
24:31Right now, these are our investigators are coming in.
24:34In energy section four, the carrier's crack team of firefighters is the first line of defense.
24:42Today, they're being put through their paces.
24:48The biggest problem we have is obviously when we're out to sea, there's no fire department to come, it's just us.
24:52So we simulate a real-world situation that the fire team would come into
24:56if they would actually have a class-alpha fire.
25:00We literally smoke an area out, and we try to get it to the point to where they can't see in the space,
25:04because in a real-life scenario, this is a very small space, and it's going to smoke out real quick.
25:09That way, they get used to coming in and basically working in the blind to find the fire,
25:13find the hot spots, and then put the fire out.
25:20The GHW Bush took eight years to build.
25:24Launched in 2009, she's the latest nuclear-powered carrier to head up the U.S. military's naval might.
25:32Fully loaded, she weighs a massive 100,000 tons.
25:38Powering this floating colossus takes something with Herculean capabilities.
25:44The power plant of choice, not one, but two nuclear reactors producing a staggering 194 megawatts.
25:54Responsible for their safe and effective operation is Reactor Officer Commander Derek Levan.
26:04The nuclear reactor, it's inside a heavily shielded sealed compartment that's only open when the reactor's shut down.
26:12Additionally, the entire ship is designed to take battle damage and then still fight and operate safely.
26:18Incredibly, almost everything on this ship is powered by the steam generated from its two massive reactors,
26:26from heating the hundreds of rooms to actual propulsion.
26:31Nuclear power gives the aircraft carrier virtually unlimited high-speed endurance.
26:36We've got enough fuel on board to last for approximately 25 years before we have to be refueled,
26:41and then we can last another 25 years, which is pretty much the life of an aircraft carrier.
26:47These incredible reactors help propel the Bush to a top speed of over 30 knots.
26:54But they also power one of the most crucial systems on the ship, the catapults, or fat cats.
27:03Steam from the reactors is stored in an accumulator.
27:07When released, it fires a piston attached to a shuttle.
27:11This shuttle pushes the fighter forward at such speed,
27:14it is capable of accelerating a 37-ton aircraft to 290 kilometers an hour in just 90 meters.
27:24The ship's catapults can launch four fighter planes from two parallel runways every three minutes,
27:31making the flight deck one of the most dangerous working environments in the world.
27:36And it's the responsibility of just one man, former Navy pilot, Airbus commander Will Powers.
27:48Here you're up in primary flight control.
27:50It's kind of the control tower, if you will, for the flight operations here on board the Bush.
27:55Our job is to manage and safely execute those flight operations,
27:59being able to talk to the pilots and be able to talk to the personnel who are working on the flight deck.
28:03I have the largest department here on the Bush, comprised of over 600 folks.
28:08In a normal day-to-day operation, you'll have roughly eight or ten personnel up here
28:12helping me execute flight operations, as well as some other centers where we're going to coordinate what goes on.
28:20Below deck, duty section four are coming to the end of an intense but successful fire drill.
28:25Let's go, let's go!
28:28Meanwhile, the rest of the crew is preparing to set course on their next mission.
28:36The GHW Bush goes through 18,150 meals every day,
28:40and it can actually be stocked with enough food for 90 days at sea.
28:47Battling it out to be named the world's ultimate megaship, one giant of the oceans is steaming ahead.
28:54The world's largest container ship, the Evermerse.
28:58But can this vast vessel float to the top in our next test?
29:03It's time to haul up the anchors, snap on the lifebelts.
29:06Stowaways will not be tolerated. It's time to start boarding.
29:11Maximum passengers.
29:16Sinking into fifth place, it's not just the captain that goes down with this ship.
29:21The 22 crew on board the mighty servant have to be brave enough to sit tight on the bridge while its front end submerges.
29:31Bobbing along in fourth place, it's the Evermerse.
29:35This may be the longest ship in the world, but she requires a crew of just 30,
29:40thanks to an ingenious system of standardized containers.
29:45This humongous ship, which usually requires around 30 people to operate it, can quite happily run with a skeleton crew of 12.
29:53Maneuvering into third place is our stunning supertanker, the TI Europe.
29:58This ship is so large, it only sails when it can be filled to the brim.
30:03So the crew of 42 spend most of their time maintaining this high-tech oil drum.
30:09This amazing ship, this Goliath of the Seas, is unstoppable.
30:16Propelling into second place, the GHW Bush has enough passenger capacity to transport a small army.
30:25In fact, her crew of 5,600 is a small army, made up of 80 jet fighter pilots and their vast support teams.
30:35But the undisputed king of the seas for people carrying is the world's largest cruise liner, the Allure of the Seas.
30:43Capable of carrying over 6,000 guests and more than 2,000 crew,
30:48the Finnish-built Allure of the Seas is more a floating city than a ship.
30:53Even the Allure's lifeboats are of epic dimensions.
30:57It's cocktails at the ready as we take to the high seas on board the world's most luxurious liner.
31:07Sunday morning, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
31:10The world's biggest cruise ship has just arrived after seven days at sea.
31:16In just eight hours, it must leave for the Bahamas, loaded with over 7,000 crew and passengers and 300 tons of supplies.
31:27Captain Hernan Zinni is responsible for ensuring the ship leaves on time.
31:37It's a very hectic day. Typically we finish securing the ship just a few minutes before six o'clock.
31:43I'm very proud of being the captain of the ship, but also I understand the responsibility on my hands.
31:47So every day you keep that in mind to make sure that the operation rides very tight.
31:52But it's not just the captain and his immediate officers on the bridge who are busy.
31:57Inventory manager David Adams is in a race against time to get the supplies for the next seven days loaded.
32:04Passengers are expecting a five-star experience.
32:08So it's crucial there's enough food and drink to go round.
32:12The hardest part of my job is planning and the ordering of the items.
32:18Because we have to look at the demographics of the guests that are coming on board and to be able to order to suit that demographic.
32:26For example, this voyage, we have the Super Bowl.
32:29Obviously the Super Bowl comes with beer drinking, so we had to increase our beer orders based on that particular event.
32:39With four hours to go before departure, the first of the 6,000 passengers start to arrive.
32:46Meanwhile, in the bowels of the ship, chief engineer Starley Johan Ludvigsson is rallying his troops
32:52to ensure the smooth running of this Titan's six giant Wärtsilä engines.
32:57Three of them are 16-cylinders and we have three engines that is capable of carrying up to 100 tons.
33:04Three of them are 16-cylinders and we have three engines that is 12-cylinders.
33:09That makes this power plant very fuel efficient because we can use the combinations of engines that we need for the power production.
33:18But what makes the Allure's propulsion system so special is that its three giant propellers are mounted on Azipod units.
33:26These allow the propellers to swivel through 360 degrees.
33:31Along with four state-of-the-art bow thrusters, the ship can be steered in any direction,
33:36making it as maneuverable as a vessel a third of its size.
33:40And actually this ship can go sideways four knots with the use of the bow thrusters and the Azipods.
33:48Exactly on time, less than 12 hours after arriving in Florida, the captain gives the order to power up the engines and leave the port.
33:57Red condition and I have a navigation command and Michael has a con.
34:01Acknowledged. Red condition.
34:04There has been a lot of thoughts, a lot of passion, a lot of dedication to come up with these amazing ships
34:09and I think we are very happy that with the time we've been in service we have proven to be extremely successful.
34:14So we're very proud of her.
34:18In seven days, the world's biggest cruise liner will return here.
34:226,000 holidaymakers will disembark and the whole process will begin again.
34:29It might alarm the passengers, but if you were to take the allure of the seas out of the water and stand it on its end in New York,
34:35it would actually dwarf the Chrysler building by 57 meters.
34:43Coming up, we're talking grunt work.
34:48Our five megaships are all built for carrying big loads of one sort or another, but which can hold the heaviest cargo?
34:56And decision time, with four of our ships tying on points, which will be crowned world's ultimate megaship?
35:04Five ultimate megaships, but which is the world's best of the best?
35:09Rated in five key categories, which will be revealed as the ultimate winner?
35:15With luxury liner Allure of the Seas, giant oil tanker TI Europe, the nuclear-powered GHW Bush
35:22and the enormous Evermersk, all mechanized, this is the world's biggest ship.
35:28The nuclear-powered GHW Bush and the enormous Evermersk, all neck and neck and fighting for top spot,
35:35will our final category prove decisive for one of our five megaships?
35:43Carrying capacity.
35:47Just how much cargo are these giants capable of shifting in one go?
35:53In fifth place, it's the world's biggest cruise liner, the Allure of the Seas.
35:59With a cargo carrying capacity of just over 17,000 tonnes, it carries luggage for 7,000 passengers and crew,
36:07as well as all the essentials for continuous five-star entertaining.
36:13This gigantic cruise liner produces 50 tonnes of ice every day.
36:17I mean, that's just for the drinks and food on board. That's a huge amount of ice.
36:21At four, it's the incredible semi-submersible, the Mighty Servant.
36:26With a carrying capacity of over 37,000 tonnes, the addition of extra buoyancy can up its total to an almost incongruous 40,000 tonnes.
36:39Surging into third position, it's the pride of the American fleet, the GHW Bush.
36:44With a carrying capacity of almost 88,000 tonnes, this deadly warship is loaded with weaponry,
36:51supplies for over 6,000 crew and fuel for up to 80 planes.
36:57In second place, it's the world's biggest container ship, the Evermersk.
37:02With a capacity for almost 157,000 tonnes of cargo, there's nothing this ship can't or hasn't already carried.
37:12If you've got it in your room, it's probably been on the Evermersk.
37:16But taking cargo carrying to a whole new level, in first place, it's the T.I. Europe.
37:23This leviathan of a ship is capable of carrying over 442,000 tonnes of crude oil, enough to fill every car in Canada.
37:33It takes six hours longer to empty the T.I. Europe than it does to fill it in the first place.
37:38So 99% of it drains out, you've got a nearly empty tank,
37:42and they bring in industrial-sized power jets to get that last 1%, making sure they've got every single drop delivered.
37:50Time to don the shades and step aboard the brilliant T.I. Europe.
37:57The largest tanker on the ocean, the enormous T.I. Europe is anchored in the Gulf of Mexico, awaiting her next mission.
38:05Owned by Uranav, she was built to transport vast quantities of crude oil, and everything about her is geared so she doesn't lose a drop.
38:15That includes a dazzling heat-reflecting paint job, which helps lower temperatures in the hold by 20 degrees.
38:23But keeping her gleaming white and free from rust is a constant battle.
38:28Her enormous hull is repainted and treated every five years, but above the water, the painting never stops.
38:37Chief Officer Stanislav Kozmanov is responsible for supervising the never-ending fight against corrosion.
38:44This is a considerable part of the ship's maintenance, is keeping deck and machinery free of corrosion.
38:53It's time and labor-consuming work, because the environment is not so hospitable with this seawater and all the sprays.
39:03Built as one of a fleet of four ultra-large crude carriers, the T.I. Europe cost a whopping $100 million and first set sail in 2002.
39:15With a top speed of 17.5 knots, she's powered by a mighty 37-megawatt engine, creating the same thrust as six Boeing 747s.
39:27Her enormous double hull contains ballast tanks made from 4-meter-thick high-tensile steel, built to withstand incredible pressures and extreme temperatures as she crosses the world's oceans.
39:40Inside, the vast double hull houses 21 giant tanks, each the size of an Olympic swimming pool, to give a carrying capacity of 3 million barrels of crude oil.
39:53But transporting such cargo is a risky operation.
39:57Crude oil evaporates to create a highly flammable hydrocarbon vapor.
40:03If exposed to oxygen and a spark, it will explode.
40:08To avoid disaster, the oxygen levels in the tanks are kept below 6%.
40:14An inert gas monitoring system detects rising oxygen levels and pumps a non-explosive gas mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide into the tanks, which forces the oxygen out.
40:26It's the single most important system on the ship, and it's the responsibility of one man.
40:33With 30 years tanker experience, Chief Engineer Bert van der Hurten.
40:38The system is complete automatic. We only have to start.
40:42I will see, fuel gas ready, then I can start and the system will start up.
40:49Here we are measuring the oxygen content.
40:52But there's a problem.
40:56The inert gas produced by the ship's engine has dangerously high oxygen levels.
41:02So we have now about 6%, so it's not good.
41:07Blowing them into the tanks like this could be catastrophic.
41:11Bert needs to find a solution, and fast.
41:14We can give a little bit more fuel pressure.
41:18So there's still an alarm here.
41:21A little bit more. OK, it's good.
41:24OK, so now we don't have the alarm anymore, meaning that our inert gas we are making is good.
41:32With the oxygen levels in the ship's inert gas system now under control, it can be blown into the tanks, where it will be monitored constantly.
41:42It means there's no rest for Bert and his crew in the engine room, and it's the same story for the team working several decks above.
41:51For this dedicated band of seamen, there's no end in sight to their ongoing fight against corrosion on the dazzling sea-lash decks of the world's largest tanker.
42:07Five mega-ships.
42:09Five incredible examples of extreme nautical engineering, each of them outstanding in their own right.
42:17But which is the overall best of the best?
42:24In identifying the single ship which dominates the pack, all-round performance is key.
42:30So we've totaled the rankings for sink depth, length, engine power, carrying capacity and maximum passengers.
42:38And here is the final result.
42:42In fifth place, it's the Phoenix of the Seas, the semi-submersible heavy lifter that is the mighty Servant.
42:50Floating into fourth, the largest cruise ship ever built, the Allure of the Seas.
42:58Powering into third, the flagship of the US Navy, the USS G.H.W. Bush.
43:06Coasting into second, the ship that carries everything from Christmas presents to live animals, the Eber Mers.
43:14But the world's number one mega-ship, a true giant of the ocean, longer than four football pitches and the height of a seven-story building,
43:24it's the enormous, the dazzling T.I. Europe.
43:29Built to transport previously unimaginable quantities of crude oil around the globe, everything about this super-tanker is epic.
43:38The propeller alone for the T.I. is 104 tonnes.
43:42What does that mean?
43:43Well, 104 tonnes weighs pretty much the same as a Boeing 757 passenger jet.
43:49You've got to love it.