The Seawise Giant, the biggest ship ever constructed, set out on an undertaking as humongous as the ship itself. For more than three decades at sea, it changed names several times, owners, and even survived a war, finally going back to the seas in a tale that was as resilient as the hero itself.
Initially ordered by a Greek business tycoon, the Seawise Giant lost its chance after the tycoon cancelled the transaction, and thus the fate of the ship became uncertain. It was constructed in 1979 by Sumitomo Heavy Industries. The vessel was left untouched for some period of time. Later, CY Tung from Hong Kong shipped magnate purchased it, on which he used to dream big as the greatest ship in the world. By its modifications from Tung, its capacity doubled more than 140,000 tonnes.
Seawise Giant extended to a breathtaking 458 meters (more than 1,500 feet) and a load capacity of more than 600,000 tonnes. It towered above the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower and was several times larger than the Titanic. In spite of its enormity, it was tricky to maneuver the ship. It took a two-mile (more than three-kilometer) turn radius and five miles (approximately eight kilometers) to stop dead from its maximum speed of 16.5 knots (30 km/h). Because of its enormity, the Seawise Giant was too big to transit through large ports such as the Suez Canal and Panama Canal.
In the 1980s, however, the voyage of the ship was turned tragic when it was swept into the Iran-Iraq War. In May 1988, as it was carrying Iranian crude oil, the Seawise Giant was hit by two missiles launched by the Iraqi Air Force. Massive fires broke out, and the ship was almost destroyed. But the Seawise Giant was salvaged post-war by Norwegian company Norman International, which refitted the ship with 3,700 tonnes of fresh steel. Rechristened as ‘Happy Giant,’ it restarted operations by 1991.
Its second act had it purchased by Norwegian entrepreneur Jørgen Jahre for £30 million ($39 million) and renamed ‘Jahre Viking.’ By the early 2000s, however, its gigantic size made it uneconomic in today’s economy with high fuel bills and poor maneuverability. During 2004, it was retired from service over twenty years prior and sold to Norway’s First Olsen Tankers and renamed as ‘Knock Nevis.’ It was positioned as a storage facility on flotation in Qatar’s Al Shaheen Oil Field and could hold 4.1 million barrels of oil.
In 2009, the ship was bought by Amber Development Corporation, which rechristened it as ‘Mont’ and shipped it to India. The Seawise Giant was dismantled and scrapped at Alang, bringing an end to its legendary life in 2010. The 36-tonne anchor of the Seawise Giant is presently exhibited at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.
