Container ship Margrethe Maersk prepares to dock at Cai Mep International Terminal (Photo: baogiaothong.vn)Hanoi (VNA) –Margrethe Maersk, a Triple-E container ship which is the world’s biggest,docked at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) on February 20 – a milestone inVietnam’s navigation history.
With the arrival of Margrethe Maersk, CMIT,located downstream Cai Mep River of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, isthe first port in Vietnam and the 19th in the world to be able to handle an18,300-TEU Triple-E vessel, according to the Sai Gon Giai phong (LiberatedSaigon) daily.
Margrethe Maersk, built by Danish containershipping company Maersk Line, is 399.2 metres long and 59 metres wide and has adeadweight tonnage of 194,000.
Triple-E is a class of the world’s largestcontainer ship at present. The name is derived from the three design principlesof economy of scale, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly.
In recent years, about 30 percent of Vietnam’scontainers destined for faraway markets had to transit ports in Hong Kong(China), Singapore or Malaysia, which has added to delivery costs and time.
The vessel Margrethe Maersk is arriving at CaiMep to take goods to carry to Europe. With this direct trip, transport time forVietnamese goods will be cut by over one day and transport expense by 10-20percent than the traditional shipping, which has to transit other countries.
CMIT managing director Robert Hambleton said thearrival of Margrethe Maersk is a landmark for both CMIT and Vietnam. That provesthe capacity of the port and the country, which can become a point of transitfor goods from Asia to Europe.
Under a plan for seaport development in Vietnamuntil 2020, the Cai Mep complex of container terminals consists of CMIT, TanCang-Cai Mep ODA Terminal and SP-SSA International Terminal. It was designatedto be a deep-water port complex able to handle container ships of more than100,000 DWT.
About 1.36 million TEU of goods was handled bythe Cai Mep complex in 2015. The volume increased by 47 percent in thefollowing year to more than 2 million TEU.
The inclusion of CMIT in the network ofterminals eligible for receiving Triple-E vessels by 2M Alliance of Maersk Lineand MSC demonstrates the strategic position of the Cai Mep complex, and the successfulhandling of Margrethe Maersk is also a step to turn this complex into aninternational point of transit for containers.
In October 2016, Lloyd’s List named CMIT as oneof the top four port operators in Asia.-VNA
VNA
