A number of factors will determine which mode is used but in most cases the choice is normally decided by urgency of delivery or the size & type of cargo. One thing is for certain though, as technology evolves the aircraft and ships are getting bigger and faster which means greater capacity and quicker transit times.

At the moment, container ships will dwarf an air freighter in terms of sheer size, however , when you factor in the much quicker turn-around of an aircraft compared to a ship it is feasible that in years to come an airliner will carry more cargo over a 12 month period compared to a container ship during the same time frame.

It is therefore interesting to compare the largest containerships against the biggest freighters to see how they stack up against each other. At time of writing the largest of the two categories are as follows :

AIRBUS A380 – 800F

The 555 seat double-deck Airbus A380 is due to enter service in March 2006 and will be the world’s largest airliner, with 49% more floor space and 35% more seating than the previous largest aircraft , Boeing’s 747-400 (specs on the Boeing are in brackets below to compare against the A380) . On July 4, 2000 Emirates became the first customer to place a firm order followed by Air France, Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic . Together these airlines completed the 50 orders needed to launch the program. Since then a number of other airlines including Korean, Lufthansa,Thai and Malaysian Airlines have committed to the new A380 so the message is clear from the Airline companies : "Build your planes big and fast and we will buy them !"

There are of course economic benefits that are also attracting attention from the airlines ; in addition to the increased seating and freight capacity the A380 claims to use 20% less fuel and will fly quieter, cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the 747.

To integrate into existing airports the A380 must meet the standard docking plan. The plane’s nearly 80 metre wing span means it meets this requirement by about 18 inches !!. It’s outer most engines, however , would hang just beyond the standard 150ft (45.75m) runway width which will require many upgrades at airports that the A380 will be calling at.

For years now, cargo carrying ships have been more prevalent than passenger liners . The same trend is also affecting the ratio of passenger aircraft Vs freighter aircraft : Boeing predicts that over a third of their operating fleet will be dedicated freighter types by 2015 compared to around 10% at the turn of the 21^st century.

Watch out for Boeing to fight back and produce an even bigger and better aircraft. Isn’t competition a great thing ?

SX-CLASS : KING OF THE CONTAINER SHIPS

Six of these SX type vessels were ordered by Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) the first vessel was delivered in 2003 (mv "OOCL Shenzen")and the last will be delivered by end of 2005. They are built by Samsung Heavy Industries Co ( South Korea) .** The previous largest containership could load 6,600 teu.

These ships are a giant in every respect – a single 12-cylinder, 69,439 kW (93,120 bhp) engine turns an 85 tonne (187,000 lb) propeller at a top speed of only 106 RPM. To compare, a typical family car engine generates around 90 kW (120 hp) and turns at up to 7,000 RPM. Speaking of cars, there is enough steel built into one of these vessels to manufacture 90,000 family sized cars The new generation SX-class vessel is designed with many environmentally-friendly features including specially designed hull which allows the vessel to consume less fuel while maintaining a very high speed of 25 knots per hour. The vessel is also designed to burn low sulphur fuel with much reduced CO 2 gas emission to the environment. Tin-free SPC paint is used to reduce toxicity to marine life so there is a definite effort on behalf of the ship builder to be as "Green" as possible .

Until recently, some of the largest container ships calling at N.Z ports had a maximum capacity of 2,000 teu and these ships were huge by anyone’s reckoning – the new SX Class can handle over 8,000 teu so it would be amazing to see one up close. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely these vessels will call at N.Z as they would be too large for our terminals to handle . Their primary role is to serve the main regional transhipment ports such as Singapore , and then connect with feeder vessels to N.Z .

Thanks to large-scale automation, OOCL Shenzhen has a crew complement of only 19, and virtually the entire ship can be controlled and adjusted from a single Windows-based computer terminal. Several such terminals are scattered throughout the ship, meaning that the ship’s officers can make adjustments to the ship from their cabins if necessary.

When the ships arrive in port, they're worked by up to five cranes simultaneously. The ships are in and out of port so quickly it means that, for the crew, the days of ‘having a girl in every port’ are well and truly over.