Throwback Thursday - 10241 Maersk Line Triple-E
Posted by FlagsNZ,
In this Throwback Thursday article I have a look at 10241 Maersk Line Triple-E set that was released ten years ago in 2014.
Whilst this is a highly collectable set, particularly for people who work in the maritime, logistics or supply chain industry, it has never had a Brickset staff review.
Read on as I have a look at this set and also why I also feel as if there is a more important nostalgic story behind the reason for this set's release.
Box
The main image on the front of the box shows the 10241 Maersk Line Triple-E ship underway in a calm seaway with an out of focus port in the background.
A small graphic indicates that the finished model will be 65 cm (26 inch) long. It is also a Creator Expert themed model.
The image on the rear of the box shows the model sitting on display as seen from the port quarter. There are several smaller images that highlight some of the microscale details of this set.
Instructions
There are two printed instruction books. Book 1 includes the building steps for Bags 1. Book 2 includes the building steps for Bags 2 and 3.
The instructions and sticker sheets come in a plastic bag with a cardboard insert protecting them from getting crushed.
Inside the instructions is an image of LEGO Senior Design Manager Jamie Berard with some early design prototypes of this model.
There is also an artists' impression of what a Maersk Line Triple-E ship will look like. This image can also be found on the side of the box.
Sticker sheet
There are two sticker sheets included with this set.
The smaller of the two sticker sheets has the bold words MAERSK LINE that appear on each side of the hull and the ship's particulars that appear on the display stand.
The larger of the two sticker sheet has the 106 grey and 18 clear stickers that go onto the side of the brick "containers" stowed on deck. There are also the four seven-pointed white stars that go onto the ship's two funnels and the ship's name and port of registry that goes on the transom.
There are some more comments on the stickers in this review.
The Build
Bags 1
The parts from Bags 1 assemble the hull. The hull is predominantly two colours: Medium Azur[e], which closely represents the corporate Maersk Blue colour above the waterline and New Dark Red for the antifouling paint below the waterline.
There are several boat studs under the hull enabling the model to glide smoothly on the floor.
There are two microscale MAN-B&W 8S80ME-C engines in the hull which are assembled using mainly Sand Green elements.
The forecastle has the foremast and two microscale windlasses.
Bags 2
The parts from Bags 2 complete the ship, including the display stand.
The 1x4x2 Redish Brown fences represent lashing frames, known as lashing bridges, between the container bays. This part has only been seen in two sets.
The accomodation block and engine casing can be removed easily.
Minifigure sliver skates are used ingeniously as radar scanners.
Orange rescue cans are used as lifeboats. The colour variant of this part is unique to this set.
Red rescue cans were used as ship's lifeboats in 4002015 Borkum Riffgrund 1, the LEGO employee gift in 2015.
Bags 3
Stowed on deck are 344 2x4 blocks representing shipping containers. The uppermost blocks are a sandwich of two 2x4 plates and a 2x4 tile. The other blocks are simply 2x4 bricks. The lowermost layer of the full-width blocks are 4x12 bricks.
The "shipping containers" come in three colours: Medium Stone Grey, Sand Blue and White.
The white bricks represent reefer shipping containers.
There is one layer of Reddish Brown plates under the container blocks.
Completed model
The blocks of shipping containers just sit on the model.
A nice little feature of this build includes a coin talisman hidden under the foremast. This is a ceremonial tradition that dates back to at least the ancient Roman Empire.
The Maersk Triple E ships are powered by two MAN-B&W 8S80ME-C 9.2 main engines which each produce 29,680 kW (39,800 hp). These, in turn, power two shafts to two fixed-pitch propellers.
Two 1x4x3 transparent wall elements have been cleverly built into the hull that will enable you to see into the engine room from the port side of the model.
There is a 1x1 Bright Blue tile on the starboard side of the accomodation. This represents a swimming pool that is found in the real ship.
The sticker on the stern indicates that this ship is named Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller and that the ship is registered at the port of Hellerup.
Stickers, stickers and more stickers!
When I first built this model, it took about two hours to build the ship and about one hour applying the stickers!
In an article Which set contains the most stickers? written by CapnRex101 in 2021, 10241 Maersk Triple E comes in fourth place as the set with the most stickers (133 stickers). In that same article, 1650 Maersk Line Container Ship released in 1974 is in third place on the same list (155 stickers) and in 1st place with 1.42 parts per sticker in a parts per sticker analysis.
Both these sets depict container ships and identical stickers are applied to the sides of each shipping container and these account for the vast majority of the stickers included.
STAMPs - Stickers Across Multiple Parts
The two large MAERSK LINE stickers stretch across several bricks on each side of the hull.
The ship's details appear on one sticker which sits across six 2x4 black tiles.
The ship's particulars explained:
- Owner: A.P. Moller - Maersk A/S
- Length over all: 399.0 m (1309 feet) - The maximum length of the ship
- Beam moulded: 59 m (193 feet) - the width of the hull measured from inside the side shell plating
- Depth moulded: 30.3 m (99½ feet) - the depth from the upper deck to inside the shell plating at the keel.
- Draught: 14.5m (47½ feet) - the draught (how deep the ship is in the water) as measured at the upper edge of the Summer Load Line
- Maximum deadweight: 166,550 metric tonnes (183,590 short tons) - The maximum amount of cargo that can be carried when the ship is loaded down to the Summer Load Line
- MAN-B&W 8S80ME-C 9.2 x 2: The two main engines
- 80,000 bhp (59656 kW): Main engine power output
- 18,000 teu: Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units - Theoretical amount of 20-foot shipping containers that can be carried on this ship
There are four seven-pointed Maersk stars on the funnels. These are not STAMPs.
Many of the MAERSK container stickers have been applied across two plates and a tile of the uppermost "shipping container" in each stack.
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller - The ship
The Triple E class is a fleet of very large container ships that are owned and operated by Maersk Line. The lead ship of the class is named after Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller - the son of the founder of A.P. Møller – Mærsk Group.
This one-minute time-lapse video shows the construction of the Triple E class ship Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. As you can see, building a modern ship is similar to assembling full sized LEGO modules.
Triple E class
The Triple E of the class design stands for:
- Economy of scale,
- Energy efficiency, and
- Environmental impact improvement
As of 2019, there are thirty-one 1st and 2nd generation Triple E class ships in operational service with Maersk Line.
Suezmaz
The Maersk Triple E class was a pioneering container ship design. It is classified as Suezmax in that it is the among the maximum sized ships that can transit the Suez Canal: the Suez Canal Authority limits the ship's length to 400m; there are a variety of draught limitations.
This graphic below compares Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller with the largest categories of ships in 2013, when Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was launched.
Other companion ship size terms:
- Panamax is the term for the maximum size of ships that can transit the Panama Canal.
- Capesize is the term for ships larger than Suezmax that must sail round either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn.
A,P Moller - Maersk Group - The LEGO Group
The relationship between The LEGO Group and A.P. Moller - Maersk group was founded on a personal relationship between Godtfred Kirk Christiansen [the son of the founder of The LEGO Group] and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller [the son of the founder of A.P. Moller - Maersk Group] (10219: Maersk Train instructions, p3).
The Mærsk family
The photo shows three generations of the Mærsk family: A.P Moller is on the left with Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller standing in front of him. Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, who took over as chair of the A,P Moller - Maersk foundations, is the young girl on the right.
(maersk.com/about/our-history/the-founding-family)
The Christiansen family
The photo shows three generations of the Christiansen family: Ole Kirk Christiansen (born Ole Kirk Kristiansen) stands behind Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is in the front.
(lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/4591606.pdf)
Kristiansen or Christiansen?
On Ole Kirk Kristiansen’s birth certificate, his surname is spelt with a K. In Ole Kirk Kristiansen’s day, however, it was common practice for the surname Kristiansen to be spelt with either Ch or K – and Ole Kirk Kristiansen did indeed use both versions, although mostly the Ch style. Both Godtfred Kirk Christiansen and his son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen – like Ole Kirk Kristiansen before them – were baptised Kristiansen, and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen has always used this spelling (lego.com/en-us/history/articles/a-kristiansen-or-christiansen).
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller - The person
Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was born on 13 July 1913, and he became a partner in the A.P. Moller–Maersk Group in 1940 and he became CEO and chairman on his father's death in 1965.
Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II bestowed Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller with the Order of the Elephant on 15 December 2000 in appreciation of his great importance to Danish economic life and the Danish society (kongehuset.dk).
Since 1900, only three other civilian Danes have been appointed Knight of the Elephant: the linguist Vilhelm Thomsen in 1912, the founder of the East Asiatic Company H.N. Andersen in 1919 and the physicist Niels Bohr in 1947 (mollerinstitute.com).
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller passed away on 16 April 2012 (aged 98). He lived for most of his life in Hellerup.
Early Maersk LEGO models
From an article on the early years of LEGO history written by Gary Istok: Four things you never knew about LEGO…
When folks think of the first Maersk LEGO ship, they naturally think of the crown jewel of promotional LEGO sets, the 1650 Maersk Line Container Set of 1974, which introduced Maersk blue LEGO elements.
However, the first Maersk ship by TLG was produced many years earlier, and was only available to continental European retailers, as a glued display model in 1959-60. This was the 0751 Regina Maersk LEGO model, named after the very first Maersk blue hulled ship of that name launched in 1955 from the Odense Denmark shipyards.
The Regina Maersk LEGO ship glued display model was 60cm long, longer than the later 1650 Maersk Line Container Ship. Because the Maersk blue color was not yet in production back in 1959-60, the glued model was made from regular blue bricks. Ironically there are no known surviving models of this first LEGO ship, although likely many hundreds were produced.
Later Maersk LEGO models
There are several other LEGO Maersk models. The notable ones are:
My Maersk Line Triple E
I have served in two smaller container ships that were chartered to Maersk Line and their role was to feed container cargoes into Asia's two major shipping hub ports of Hong Kong and Singapore.
There was always a steady stream of the larger Maersk ships transiting through these two significant ports and the ships I served in exchanged cargo to ports in the Philippines and Indonesian archipelagos.
After serving at sea for over twenty years, I eventually came ashore, and I now find myself teaching at the maritime school where I gained my Master (Foreign Going) certificate of competency.
For my Maersk Line Triple E model, I replaced the 2x4 bricks with 1x4 and 1x2 multicoloured bricks to better represent a regular load of shipping containers. I use this model in the classroom as a teaching aid.
Conclusion
Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (the person) passed away seven months before the keel was laid for Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller (the ship), although the contract for the construction of the ship was signed two months before his death.
It would seem reasonable to assume that the first of this class of ship was always going to be named after Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. The ship class immediately preceding the Triple E was the E class and the lead ship was named Emma Maersk, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller's late wife, Emma.
I believe that The LEGO Group picked up the opportunity to honour the lifelong friendship that existed between Godtfred Kirk Christiansen and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller and immortalising this relationship by releasing the LEGO set 10241 Maersk Line Triple-E in 2014.
204 likes
46 comments on this article
Mighty fascinating article! And review! I love Throwback Thursdays, so this is a real treat! Thank you for the nice read!
This is an indepth throwback!
Excellent article. Living in Felixstowe I see a lot of container ships and would love to add a new version of this set to my collection. But not at current prices!
Nice to see this as the first article on the page this wonderful Thursday morning!
Very nice article indeed. Love the insights and the additional information.
Although it is a beautiful set, the built as such was a bit... how to say it nicely, boring. IMHO, it is very repetitive and the amount of stickers I needed to apply... oh boy. But besides that, a very nice collectable and it shines next to my other sets
Very insightful. Does Jamie still work for Lego and does he still design sets?
Really nice article. I so much prefer your version. Containers are never the same colors.
Under Jamie Berard screen, I see a YELLOW classic monkey O_o Now I want one :(
Damn, I love this set, but it didn't fit in my collection, so I sold it. Then I got nostalgic and bought it again. Then I sold it again. Now I want it again. Damn.
@biffuz said:
"Damn, I love this set, but it didn't fit in my collection, so I sold it. Then I got nostalgic and bought it again. Then I sold it again. Now I want it again. Damn."
Story of my Lego life
The sticker sheet for this set is wild.
Is Medium Azure the same colour that's been called Maersk Blue in previous Lego Maersk models? Or was that a different shade that matched more closely to the corporate colour?
Great set, great article!
That sticker sheet is the thing of OCD nightmares...!
As a naval hobbyist, loved how detailed the article both as a set review and from real world perspective.
Living in a coastal port town, this set was a must. Great build. Although I didn't have the patience to apply the many stickers for the shipping containers. Still looks good without them.
@MisterBrickster said:
"Is Medium Azure the same colour that's been called Maersk Blue in previous Lego Maersk models? Or was that a different shade that matched more closely to the corporate colour? "
They are close but different shades. I’m guessing Maersk Blue was retired and Medium Azure is the closest match.
I hardly applied any of the stickers to mine. I think it would look better with them, but… STAMPs? Yuk!
@merman said:
"Very insightful. Does Jamie still work for Lego and does he still design sets?"
His instagram bio says he is "design lead at LEGO HQ in Denmark creating ultimate LEGO sets for adults, teens and super-fans." He's also one of the judges on the U.S. version of Lego Masters
https://www.instagram.com/brickmasterjamie/?hl=en
@erdrickgr said:
" @merman said:
"Very insightful. Does Jamie still work for Lego and does he still design sets?"
Yes I saw but does he still design sets?
His instagram bio says he is "design lead at LEGO HQ in Denmark creating ultimate LEGO sets for adults, teens and super-fans." He's also one of the judges on the U.S. version of Lego Masters
https://www.instagram.com/brickmasterjamie/?hl=en "
Is the orange life boat a Life GUard can?
Mine is still built and displayed on our bookcase, and has been since I bought it nearly 10 years ago.
'Look at me, I am the Captain now.'
I believe the real event they based the Captain Philips film on took place on a Triple E. Anyway, Great throwback review!
Hey, it's Brickmaster Jamie!
Another aspect of the model that is accurate to IRL large ships - if left long enough it will sag longitudinally around the stand supports. This is called 'hogging' and real ships flex like this over waves because if they were too rigid, the hulls would fatigue faster, and fail. (There are fantastic videos online taken looking down the long axial access corridors during stormy weather, and you can see the whole corridor flexing and twiting with the waves!)
I take mine off the stand every so often and flex it in the opposite direction to 'reset' it.
One of my favorite dispaly models!
Huwbot's AI protocols have expanded significantly!!
Seriously, nice article.
I'm tempted to make some snarky comments about poor printing, old Lego mottos, price gouging, declining customer service, and extravagant expenditures on dressage ponies and Ferrari collections- but the article's tone is just too pleasant to permit me to launch into my anti-KKK rant.
Thoroughly researched article, very knowledgeable and deeply nerdy. Love it!
Been on ships like this many times, but unfortunately dont have it in lego.
Fyi flagnz, de second bay after the wheelhouse you put 2 small bricks on top of 1 big one, this is not allowed as this will damage the bottom big one (in real life)
I don't even mind stickers normally, but even I looked at the photo of that sheet of 106(!) identical stickers and said OUCH!
Fascinating article on a set I'd never given particularly much thought to before. I didn't know it had that window in the side to see the engines, since that's not visible from Brickset's main picture; but it's a neat feature. Very cool to get the details explained, too, since otherwise a lot of the design features wouldn't have meant anything to me.
It does occur to me, though, that in proportion to the hypothetical crew of this ship, that minifigure-scale ceremonial coin would be massive! xD
@pvp3020 said:
"
They are close but different shades. I’m guessing Maersk Blue was retired and Medium Azure is the closest match.
"
From what I heard, Maersk themselves changed their color : the new one was close enough to medium azure, so Lego discontinued the old Maersk blue.
I didn't like the big containers and the stickers, so when I built it I replaced the containers by 1x2s : https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=560386
@antp said:
" @pvp3020 said:
"
They are close but different shades. I’m guessing Maersk Blue was retired and Medium Azure is the closest match.
"
From what I heard, Maersk themselves changed their color : the new one was close enough to medium azure, so Lego discontinued the old Maersk blue.
I didn't like the big containers and the stickers, so when I built it I replaced the containers by 1x2s : https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=560386"
Wow, I love how much better that looks with the smaller containers. Mine's currently broken down and stored but I'm tempted to do the same if I ever rebuild it
Great throwback review! Since I don't have much nautical knowledge, I appreciate all the extra details and context.
As for the set itself, I agree it looks better and more realistic with containers of varying colors.
I would think/hope that modern Lego would have printed tiles instead of stickers for such a large number of a single design element. But the cost overhead may be steep since those prints would not be used in other sets.
Amazing article. Thank you. I'm a huge fan of Maersk and the LEGO renditions of their vehicles.
Ever since I played with the now almost legendary Maersk truck set (1552) at my English friend's house when we were kids I was hooked. It was the first time I saw LEGO bricks in a non-standard colour.
Excellent article. It is interesting to me to see all the stickers across multiple parts. Back then we were thrilled to have any sets with an adult theme. Now there would be rioting in the streets if TLG produced a set with so many (any?) STAMPS. Just goes to show how far the design of sets for AFOLs has come.
This is the most boring Star Wars miniscale ship I've ever seen.
I was disappointed to find out that "reefer shipping containers" mean refrigerated shipping containers.
Great article and review! Lots of interesting info. I like the part about the ship's size terms relating to using the canals, amongst other interesting info covered by this article. I had wanted to get the Maersk train 10219 back in the day, but it sold out before I could get one.
@antp said:
" @pvp3020 said:
"
They are close but different shades. I’m guessing Maersk Blue was retired and Medium Azure is the closest match.
"
From what I heard, Maersk themselves changed their color : the new one was close enough to medium azure, so Lego discontinued the old Maersk blue.
I didn't like the big containers and the stickers, so when I built it I replaced the containers by 1x2s : https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=560386"
@antp: I really like your version of two plates of 1x2 containers. Your model has 26 bays of containers which is close to the 24 x 40 foot bays of the real ship. I might modify my model accordingly.
@tomenadi said:
"Been on ships like this many times, but unfortunately dont have it in lego.
Fyi flagnz, de second bay after the wheelhouse you put 2 small bricks on top of 1 big one, this is not allowed as this will damage the bottom big one (in real life)"
Yes. I know. They were printed 2x2 brick for an event year's ago.
Only a few years after , in 2017, Container ships already passed 20.000 capacity, Madrid Maersk being the second ship built to reach that.
Ships are still growing, 2021 , ships passed the 23.112 with the CMA CGM Jacques Saadé
2022 saw the first ships pass 24.000, with the Ever Alot (and 4 other Evergreen ships)
And then 2023 saw 8 new MSC ships at 24.116, 6 ONE ships at 24.136 , 8 OOCL ships at 24.188
And now, the current largest capacity container ships in the world are 6 more MSC ships built in 2023, at 24.346 TEU
I like your reviews FlagzNZ, this one is extra nice because of the background information. It’s easy to tell you have a passion for maritime subjects, so thanks for sharing!
Now if Huw would just send me the Ayrton Senna and McLaren MP4/4 set so that I can provide a similar review… *whistles* do-de-doo…
@erdrickgr said:
" @merman said:
"Very insightful. Does Jamie still work for Lego and does he still design sets?"
His instagram bio says he is "design lead at LEGO HQ in Denmark creating ultimate LEGO sets for adults, teens and super-fans." He's also one of the judges on the U.S. version of Lego Masters
https://www.instagram.com/brickmasterjamie/?hl=en "
Also, here's his designer Bricklist: https://brickset.com/sets/list-14143 Last set listed is from 2010, though.
I bought this set (used, no box or instructions) a little over a year ago, off a guy who saved it from a Maersk employee who received it as a gift, and was going to turn it into a bonfire when he got fired by them!!
It ended up in Sydney Australia, not far from me.
I bought the instructions on Bricklink, rebuilt it (some parts were built wrong), and kept it proudly for around 6mths on my piano, selling it to another collector in 2023 for a small profit!
Not much fun to build, but a gorgeous display model! Sad to see her go.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @erdrickgr said:
" @merman said:
"Very insightful. Does Jamie still work for Lego and does he still design sets?"
His instagram bio says he is "design lead at LEGO HQ in Denmark creating ultimate LEGO sets for adults, teens and super-fans." He's also one of the judges on the U.S. version of Lego Masters
https://www.instagram.com/brickmasterjamie/?hl=en "
Also, here's his designer Bricklist: https://brickset.com/sets/list-14143 Last set listed is from 2010, though."
Don't see the Maersk ship on the list?
If only Lego make new container ship in minifig scale, next biggest ship after 60368
@burra said:
"Don't see the Maersk ship on the list? "
As I said, nothing on the list past 2010, and 10241 is from 2014.
Very in-depth review of such a subtly amazing set, I never would have thought much about this set if it weren't for this excellent discussion of it. The STAMPs bother me though, so glad LEGO phased it
out