????12月8日周一，這艘全新的中海集運“環球號”離開上海港駛往歐洲，開始了它的首航。“環球號”可裝載1.91萬個20英尺標準集裝箱（或業內所稱的1.91萬TEU），由韓國現代重工集團建造，隸屬于中國海運集團總公司，是目前全球容量最大的集裝箱船只，長400米，寬59米，單是其尺寸就已躋身目前世界最大的運營船舶之列。如果不計算紐約帝國大廈樓頂的天線塔，那么該船的長度比帝國大廈的高度還要多出20米。

????但中海集運“環球號”絕不僅僅是一艘巨輪而已。其巨大的尺寸同樣反映出過去十年間航運界發生的巨大變化。為了實現燃油和人工方面的規模效益，航運公司建造的船只越來越大，而這一變化重塑了整個行業。這種資本密集型戰略正在把小競爭者擠出市場，也在促使此前長期抵觸整合的航運界開始了全行業的整合，同時也對全球海運基礎設施提出了新的要求。

????過去十年間，巨型船舶以令人驚嘆的發展速度開始引領集裝箱船運市場。2003年，深圳東方海外的巨型集裝箱船曾經征服了當時的市場，但以今天的標準來看，其8063標箱的容量已不足為奇。

????全球金融危機和不斷攀升的燃油價格也是船只尺寸變大的推手。集裝箱船的運價在90年代至21世紀早期達到歷史高點后，于2008至2009年間隨著全球貿易的萎縮出現暴跌，各地造船廠的訂單都被陸續取消。

????隨后，雖然訂單量再次回升，但幾乎所有的訂單都是巨型船舶。比如，韓國現代重工的報告表示，自2010年起它們已建造了82艘容量超過1萬標箱的船只，但只有5筆容量為5000標箱的訂單。

????可以預想，這些資本密集型的大船已經集中在規模最大的海運公司手中。行業刊物《中國船運》編輯主任薩姆?錢伯斯說：“要和大佬們玩，你就得花大價錢” 。德魯里海事研究公司2014年7月的報告顯示，地中海航運運營的船只當中容量超1萬標箱的有696艘，馬士基有433艘，達飛有363艘。

????On Monday, December 8, the newly-christened CSCL Globe left port in Shanghai en route to Europe on its maiden voyage. Capable of carrying 19,100 twenty-foot shipping containers—19,100 TEU, as they say in the industry—the Globe, constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries and owned by the state-run China Shipping Company, is now the world’s largest container ship by volume. It is also among the largest ships in operation by raw size, at 400 meters long and 59 meters wide. If you cut the antenna tower off the Empire State Building, it would be 20 meters shorter than the Globe is long.

????But the CSCL Globe is more than just a really, really big ship. Its massive size reflects equally massive changes that have reshaped the ocean shipping industry over the past decade as carriers build ever-bigger ships to capture economies of scale in fuel and crew costs. The capital-intensive strategy is squeezing out smaller players and triggering consolidation across an industry that has long resisted it, while putting new demands on global shipping infrastructure.

????So-called megaships have come to dominate container shipping with astonishing rapidity over the past decade. The industry was bowled over in 2003 by the arrival of the then-massive OOCL Shenzhen—but its 8,063 TEU capacity is unremarkable by today’s standards.

????The shift to larger ships was pushed along by the global financial crisis and rising fuel costs. After rates for container shipping hit record highs in the 1990s and early 2000s, prices collapsed along with global trade in 2008 and 2009. Orders to shipbuilders around the world were cancelled in droves.

????When orders picked up again, they were almost all for megaships. Hyundai Heavy Industries, for instance, reports that since 2010 it has built 82 ships of more than 10,000 TEU but has received orders for only five ships in the 5,000 TEU range.

????These capital-intensive larger ships have, predictably, concentrated in the hands of the largest carriers. “To play with the big boys now, you have to be putting a huge amount of money out,” says Sam Chambers, editorial director of the trade journal SinoShip. According to a Drewry Maritime Research report from July 2014, MSC operates 696 ships above 10,000 TEU, Maersk operates 433, and CMA CGM Group has 363.