Beginning with one employee, a mule named âBirdâ and a foot-powered bottling machine, Crawford Johnson Sr. purchased the exclusive franchise rights, in 1902, to bottle and distribute Coca-Cola in Birmingham, Alabama. Today, Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc. produces and distributes over 750 Coca-Cola products across 7 states. The company employs over 5,700 people in 35 sales centers and 4 production facilities.
The ships of today dwarf most of the biggest warships built during the Second World War. In terms of tonnage, even the 72,000 ton Yamato class battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy â the largest warship of World War 2 â falls well short of the 100,000 ton aircraft carriers which have become the norm in the US Navy.
In August, the two halves of the hull â constructed separately in the shipyard â were joined together, creating the biggest hull ever built at 488 metres. (AFP/Getty Images) The Prelude has replaced the Emma Maersk, which measures 1,302 feet, as the worldâs largest ship.