THE Port of New York and New Jersey has received its biggest containership to date, the 13,208-TEU OOCL Berlin that called at the port to load empties.
The vessel is operated by Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) in a vessel sharing agreement with its OCEAN Alliance partners.
Built in 2013, the vessel sailed into Newark Bay to dock at Maher Terminals Berth 68 on July 17. The OOCL Berlin, which measures 1,200 feet in length and is 157 feet wide, is also the largest vessel so far to transit under the newly elevated Bayonne Bridge roadway, reported American Shipper.
Previously, the longest ships to ever call at New York and New Jersey terminals had been 1,000 feet long.
A sister ship to the OOCL Berlin of identical size, the OOCL Malaysia, is expected to call at the port of New York and New Jersey later this summer, while three other ships from the same group are being considered for future rotation to New York and New Jersey, based on market conditions in the second half of 2017, according to the port.
The OCEAN Alliance and other carrier alliances have announced their intention to deploy vessels of up to 18,000 TEU to the Port of New York and New Jersey as cargo demand grows and fewer US east coast ports are able to keep up with the needed infrastructure improvements to work ships of that size.