A 2024-built heavy-load deckship has just moved more than 3,000 teu of containers out of China in a single unconventional lift. The Fan Zhou 8 loaded 1,558 40 ft high-cube boxes — 3,116 teu — at Taicang, near Shanghai, in September, stacked straight onto an open deck rather than into cellular holds.

According to Alphaliner, German independent carrier Carrier53' Shipping chartered the vessel from its owner, Jiangsu Fanzhou Shipping, and arranged the voyage in cooperation with container trader Lotus Containers. The ship is one of the world's largest heavy-load deckships, a vessel type rarely seen moving containers on this scale.

The numbers behind the lift explain why shipping watchers looked twice. The deck measures 256 m long and 51 m wide — an unobstructed surface Alphaliner compares to almost two football pitches — and the 58,405 dwt vessel accommodated the boxes in 17 bays and 20 rows. Stacking ran five tiers high in the centre blocks, tapering to two tiers on the outer rows.

Why a deckship rather than a boxship?

The commercial logic sits in Carrier53's niche. The German operator specialises in unconventional cargo movements, most prominently oversized 53 ft containers built in China for the North American market. Those boxes do not fit standard cellular liner slots and become especially awkward for conventional carriers to place when capacity is tight.

A deckship sidesteps that problem entirely: with no cell guides, hatch covers or lashing bridges constraining the cargo, odd-sized units can sit on deck alongside standard equipment. For forwarders and shippers of out-of-gauge or non-standard units, the Fan Zhou 8 sailing demonstrates an alternative channel to conventional liner services when slot availability is scarce.

For carriers, the move is a reminder that charter-market creativity is not limited to cellular tonnage. For traders such as Lotus Containers, repositioning container inventories from Chinese manufacturing hubs by the thousand in one sailing consolidates what would otherwise be piecemeal movements.

Where is the vessel heading?

The Fan Zhou 8 sailed towards the Red Sea after completing loading at Taicang, but its final destination has not been disclosed. The routing suggests a long-haul voyage, with the Suez transit the most likely gateway toward European or Mediterranean discharge — though no port has been confirmed.

The lift was not the only unusual deck cargo making news this month. Alphaliner's latest weekly report also flagged Sea Legend's 1,480 teu Tiger Maanshan, which reached Felixstowe and Rotterdam after sailing from China via the Northern Sea Route. Unlike the Fan Zhou 8, the Tiger Maanshan was purpose-designed to carry LNG tank containers.

Taken together, the two voyages point to a widening repertoire for non-cellular tonnage on the Asia-Europe trade. If out-of-gauge demand and 53 ft production for North America keep growing, charterers may revisit heavy-load deckships more often as overflow capacity.