The Universe class is a series of 6 container ships built for COSCO SHIPPING Lines. The ships have a maximum theoretical capacity of 21,237 TEU.[1] They are some of the largest container ships ever built and was the second class of ships to exceed 21,000 TEU of capacity after the OOCL G-class (21,413 TEU). At the time they were also the largest Chinese built container ships.[2]
The ships were built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. They were originally ordered for a 12 year charter by China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL).[3] In 2016, a merger took place in which CSCL and its fleet became part of COSCO.[4] This happened well before the ships would be finished and as a result the ships were all delivered with COSCO Shipping name and colors.