The world's biggest boat

The hull of Shell’s prelude, which is longer than the Empire State Building, was floated in South Korea.

13:17 05 December 2013

Shell’s Prelude, the world biggest float, has made a debut and has taken to the water for the first time. Longer than the Empire State Building, Prelude is the largest floating facility weighing more than 600,000 tonnes. According to Shell, it was designed to help in the production of natural gas from 2017 and it would operate for 25 years off Australia’s north-west coast.

Prelude was specifically made to withstand cyclone season and it is hoped to produce enough gas to power a city the size of Hong Kong. Prelude, according to industry analysts costs about £6.6bn - £7.7bn.