Container boom

2019-09-19

Tri-City terminals have been visited by increasingly larger, and in the case of DCT, even the largest units in the world for the last few years. The last call of this type so far was the arrival to Gdansk, on 23 August this year, of MSC Gülsün, currently the largest container ship in the world in terms of capacity. It is a representative of the Samsung 23000 project from the South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries Co. in Geoje, with a gross tonnage of 210,000 and a carrying capacity of 197,500 t, a total length of 400 m, a maximum draught of 16 m and a construction width of 61.50 m, allowing to place 24 rows of containers on board. Its carrying capacity is just over 23,000 TEU. During the stop in Gdansk, 11,000 containers (18,000 TEU) were transhipped to/from MSC Gülsün. The ship operates in the Silk/AE10 service from the Far East to Northern Europe, served by 2M alliance, i.e. the largest container ship owner in the world: MSC and Maersk Line.

Lets remind that 2 years ago, OOCL Hong Kong, the largest container ship in the world at that time, visited DCT for the first time (it also arrived the next year). The 21,412 TEU ship was also the first ship of this type to cross the 21,000 barrier. A few months later, in October 2017, the second largest container ship in the world – OOCL Germany – arrived there, and in November that year another units from the series – OOCL Japan and OOCL United Kingdom. In March last year, DCT also hosted OOCL Indonesia. The world’s largest container ships, as part of the LL1 service, are implemented as part of the Ocean Alliance, including: CMA CGM Group, Cosco Shipping, OOCL and Evergreen. It connects Far East ports with Western and Northern Europe, including Gdansk, calling at DCT once a week. The service is operated by 11 ships, 6 of which belong to OOCL.

For obvious reasons Gdynia terminals are not able to accommodate such large ships. However, recent investments, primarily the extension of the turntable no. 2, thanks to which the Port Gdynia can accommodate ships up to 400 m long, meant they, with their conditions, are not lagging behind. In February this year, the longest unit in the history of the Port Gdynia – Charlotte Maersk, with a length of 347 m and
a capacity of 9,640 TEU called at the port. It was up to 10 meters more than the previous record-holder, MSC Asya, with a capacity. In addition, the Cap San Juan container ship appeared in Gdynia, flying in the colours of Hamburg Süd, with
a length of 331 m and a capacity of 10,600 TEU. The calling was the opportunity to test the extended turntable no. 2. The plans for the nearest future include deepening the port basins in Gdynia from the current 13.5 m to 16 m and the extension of the Pilot Entrance from the current 100 m to 140 m, as well as the reconstruction of the North Groyne. At the same time, the Maritime Office in Gdynia will perform works on the port fairways.

Article developed with "Namiary na Morze i Handel" magazine

phot. Namiary na Morze i Handel