WHEN "K" Line's 4,500-TEU Venice Bridge berthed in Wilmington, North Carolina, it was one of the biggest containership ever to unload cargo in the port.
But that nothing compared to the size of ships the Port of Wilmington hopes to attract by widening its turning basin by May, reports the Wilmington StarNews.
With a "cascade" effect - thanks to the expansion of the Panama Canal - that will see larger ships be able to access ports on the US east coast, the expansion of the turning basin is one part of a plan by the NC State Ports Authority to accommodate more, and larger, ships, said Greg Fennell, the authority's chief commercial officer.
"Our expectation is, and the plan calls for us, doubling our current volume," he said.
That doubling, which port officials hope to happen over the next few years, comes after a 2014-15 fiscal year that the port said was the busiest on record, with 297,612 TEU throughput.
The newest, massive ships can move nearly 20,000 TEU and are about 1,300 feet long and nearly 200 feet wide. To put that in perspective, the Venice Bridge carried 4,500 TEU. The Titanic was 882 feet long and about 92 feet wide.
"We've seen, just in the last four or five years, vessel sizes that 10 years ago or 15 years ago we probably would have never expected to see on the high seas," Mr Fennell said.
Those ships are too large for any US port. But the use of those largest vessels for European and Asian traffic means the large ships now on those routes will be used at smaller ports.
For example, Mr Fennell said, the 12,000- to 15,000-TEU ships likely will now use west coast ports like Los Angeles, which is the country's busiest.
Before the Panama Canal was widened, the largest ships to go through it were about 5,000 TEU, he said. But with the expansion of the Panama Canal, which is scheduled to open in April, ships as large as 13,000 TEU - which formerly could access only US ports on the west coast - could come to east coast ports though will still be too large for Wilmington.
With the expanded turning basin, the Port of Wilmington's largest capacity will increase from 7,000 TEU to 8,600 TEU, Mr Fennell. Those larger ships are up to 1,100 feet long and are wider than the largest vessels accessing the port now.
And Mr Fennell said the port's current customers - particularly those in Asia - have indicated they plan to use the larger ships in the future.
"It is absolutely critical that we have this project completed," he said.
PORTS
27 December 2015 - 22:32
Wilmington NC expects volume to double as new panamax ship cascade in
WHEN "K" Line's 4,500-TEU Venice Bridge berthed in Wilmington, North Carolina, it was one of the biggest containership ever to unload cargo in the port.
PORTS
27 December 2015 - 22:32
Wilmington NC expects volume to double as new panamax ship cascade in
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