Mega Car Carriers: the Shaper+ Class

The first units of the Shaper+ class ships of Wallenius Wilhelmsen are being built by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Jiangsu) for deliveries starting in late 2027. These vessels are a supersized version of the regular Shaper Class vessels with a unit capacity of 9,300 CEU (12 decks; 228m LOA and a beam of 38m; first deliveries in 2026). The ‘Shaper+’ Class vessels will count 14 decks and measure 238m length overall (LOA) with a beam of 40m. The ships will be an integral part of the company’s comprehensive end-to-end, net-zero service for vehicle transport.

The above graph compares the vessel size to the parking space needed for 11,700 cars or the ship’s capacity. Every colored bar represents one car. It would require a parking lot of 700m by 400m (assuming only limited space between cars and no connecting roads) to park all the cars that can be loaded on one vessel of the Shaper+ class.