Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
24,346
containers
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
The ship is 400 meters long and 60 wide, and a container is 6 meters by 2.5. So the deck fits about 65 rows of 24. How high do they stack? Call it 15 layers.
- Containers along the deck
- ~65
- Containers across
- × 24
- Layers stacked
- × 15
- 65 × 24 × 15
- ≈ 23,000
The ship is 1,300 feet long and 200 wide, and a container is 20 feet by 8. So the deck fits about 65 rows of 25. How high do they stack? Call it 15 layers.
- Containers along the deck
- ~65
- Containers across
- × 25
- Layers stacked
- × 15
- 65 × 25 × 15
- ≈ 24,000
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- MSC Irina, 399.9 m long and 61.3 m wide, the largest container ship afloat
- world record holder
- Rated capacity in twenty-foot equivalent units
- 24,346 TEU
- ≈ result
- 24,346 containers
Reference cited by Fermi: MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) vessel specification for MSC Irina, 24,346 TEU, the largest container ship by capacity
How close was your guess?
Your comparison will appear here.
Compare by ratio: divide the larger number by the smaller one. The closer to 1×, the better.