Omni-channel commerce has put the consumer in the driver's seat, with the ability to shop anywhere, buy anywhere and receive products in the manner and time of their choosing. While this revolution has been a great convenience to consumers, it has left many retailers scrambling to develop a seamless operation that not only delivers the consumer's expectations regardless of channel but does so profitably. Therein lies the rub.

The year 2014 will see the debut of the Triple E, first of a series of at least 20 containerships to be operated by Denmark's Maersk Line, each with a capacity of 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Few could have imagined this behemoth at the dawn of containerization in the mid-1950s. (Malcom McLean's Ideal X carried only 58 boxes.) In the ensuing decades, containerships grew steadily in size, as operators sought to squeeze the most out of their investments. When ships became too wide to fit through the Panama Canal, builders doubled down. Between 2008 and 2015, average ship size will have risen from 6,000 TEUs to more than 11,000 TEUs, according to Lars Jensen, chief executive officer and partner with SeaIntel Maritime Analysis. Maersk's Triple Es will dwarf them all.