World’s Largest Containership Calls at East China Harbor

image via Korea Times

The world’s largest containership, HMM GDANSK, called at the port of Xiamen in east China’s Fujian Province on Tuesday.

HMM GDANSK is a new ship to join the “Silk Road Shipping,” an alliance jointly initiated in late 2018 by dozens of ports, carriers, and logistics service providers in countries along the Belt and Road (B&R).

Running at its highest capacity, the Songyu Container Terminal of Xiamen will load and unload nearly 3,000 containers. The ship will carry goods including clothes, electronic products, and mechanical products to the main harbors including Rotterdam of the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany, and Belgium’s Antwerp by way of the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar.

The 399.99-meter-long ship has a capacity of 24,000 TEUs, with a total carrying capacity of 224,900 tonnes.

Xiamen is an important port for the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2019, an average of nearly 70 vessels en route to B&R countries stopped by Xiamen each week. However, the number dropped sharply in the first half of the year due to the unexpected outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

According to the Xiamen Port Holding Group Co., Ltd., the vessel’s joining shows its confidence in the port of Xiamen and China’s economy.

Statistics show that Xiamen port had handled 1,005,000 TEUs in June, hitting a record high.

via HSN