The 18,000 TEU Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller has blazed a trail of record productivity as the world’s largest containership has visited a number of container terminals in the APM Terminals network, the Company said in a press release.
Latest example was a visit to Tangier at Morocco’s Tanger-Med port facility, where a vessel record of 7804 TEUs was handled during the port call. While at Tanger-Med, a productivity level of 29 moves per hour (MPH) was recorded while working the world’s largest containership.
With 800 meters of quay, a 16-meter depth and eight super post-Panamax cranes, APM Terminals Tangier is one of the select facilities in the region able to accommodate the latest generation of ultra-large container ships of greater than 18,000 TEU capacity.
Other APM Terminals facilities equipped for Triple-E and with recent visits and productivity records include Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Aarhus, Denmark; and Gothenburg, Sweden.
“The Straits of Gibraltar are one of the great maritime crossroads of the world, and so we are proud to charge forward into the next phase in the evolution of global shipping, in which we continue to serve as a key transshipment center for the African and South
American trade” said APM Terminals Tangier Managing Director, Hartmut Goeritz.
More than over 200 cargo vessels pass through the Straits of Gibraltar every day carrying cargoes between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. The Tanger-Med complex is located only 14 km (8.9 miles) from Europe across the straits astride the primary sea lane. Moroccan ports have doubled container throughput since 2008, and now handle more than two million TEUs annually. The Tangier-Med Phase I container terminal, which opened in July of 2007, is owned and operated by APM Terminals and the Moroccan Akwa Group. APM Terminals Tangier handled 1.23 million TEUs in 2012, an increase of 4% over 2011’s volume. In January, APM Terminals Tangier was honored with Morocco’s National Quality Award, and was also named “Best Employer in Morocco” in a country-wide assessment.
The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller will next call Singapore and Hong Kong on its return to the Far East through the Suez Canal to complete its first service loop.