The biggest ever container ship is due to set sail on the waters in June this year. Rumoured to be taller than the 2012 Olympic Stadium and 400 metres long, it will be the largest vessel on the seas.
Named the Triple E, the new model of container ship will have holding capacity of 18,000 20 foot containers. Inside these 18,000 containers you could fit 863 million cans of baked beans, or 36,000 cars.
Currently, the largest container ship holds the equivalent of 12,500 20 foot containers. This is an increase in capacity of almost 50%. There are already discussions of an ever bigger vessel holding up to 30,000 containers.
The new Triple E ships are intended to run ocean freight services between Asia and Europe.
So what does this mean for the freight forwarding industry?
Bigger container ships are said to be more eco-friendly. Not only is technology becoming more advanced on these large container ships, but by carrying more cargo, the fuel footprint per tonne of cargo is reducing.
However, larger container ships bring their own problems, as ports are expected to either adapt to receive these bigger vessels, or the ships will call at other ports instead.
The Port of Felixstowe handles almost half of the UK’s container trade and has plans to increase its capacities by constructing a third rail terminal due to open later this year.
If you’re looking for a freight forwarder to handle your import or export sea freight, call us today – Tel. 02392 756 575. Email: sales@mercatorcargo.co.uk.
Gulftainer has won a bid to develop and run a new container port in Tripoli, Northern Lebanon. An investment of $60 million will fund machinery for the new port, including three ship-to-shore gantry cranes, nine yard cranes and up-to-date technology to manage the yards and containers in the new port smoothly.
Once the port has been completed, it will be able to receive some of the largest container ships in the Eastern Mediterranean. The new Port of Tripoli will alleviate some of the congestion at nearby Port of Beirut, and an alternative terminal to that of Tartous and Lakakia in Syria.
The new port will provide another route for imports and exports to Iraq from the Mediterranean Sea. This will cut transit times from Europe to Iraq, allowing cargo to pass through the new Tripoli Port and travel via road to its destination in Iraq. Currently the Umm Qasr Port (Iraq) and the Gulftainer Port in Tripoli (Lebanon) are not linked via rail, although it would only take 31km of track to link the two ports.
Call Mercator today to discuss your shipment to or from Lebanon – Tel. 02392 756 575. Email: sales@mercatorcargo.co.uk.
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